Definition of "irradiation" []

• The act of exposing or the condition of being exposed to radiation. (noun)
• The use or application of ionizing radiation, especially in medical treatment and for the sterilization or preservation of food. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The problem is largely that the term "irradiation" sounds like what might have happened to Blinky, the three-eyed fish that Bart Simpson caught downstream from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant in a 1990 "Simpsons" TV episode."
• "If the irradiation is too strong, however, it may give rise to tissue damage, but this may to some extent be prevented by pigmentation of the skin as in the negro or in those much exposed to the sun."
• "The effect of irradiation is absolutely universal, mutations appear after irradiation within all organisms, from simple viruses and bacteria up to the most highly organized plants and mammals."