Definition of "fissile" []

• Possible to split. (adjective)
• Physics Fissionable, especially by neutrons of all energies. (adjective)
• Geology Easily split along close parallel planes. (adjective)

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.

• "Furthermore, to judge from the reports that have been written about a global black market in fissile materials, perhaps you could sit on the periphery — say in Istanbul — and with relatively little risk allow the uranium to come to you."
• "And, Paula, this is a much, much, much greater threat than any threat from an ICBM missile and there's an awful lot of this what they call, the scientists call fissile material, the material that makes a nuclear explosion."
• "What intelligence analysts think is more likely is what's called fissile or a dirty bomb, which would using radioactive material that would not create a nuclear explosion, but there would be a explosion that would spread radioactivity over an area and make it uninhabitable for several years."