zero-power, adj.

zero-power
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zero-power_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zero-poweradjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zero-power mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zero-power. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the adjective zero-power?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.0094
1970 | 0.0083
1980 | 0.0076
1990 | 0.0059
2000 | 0.0046
2010 | 0.0037

### Where does the adjective zero-power come from?

Earliest known use

1950s

The earliest known use of the adjective zero-power is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for zero-power is from 1950, in Nucleonics.

### Nearby entries

1. zero mark, n. 1821–
2. zero meridian, n. 1849–
3. zero norm, n. 1966–
4. zero option, n. 1976–
5. zero-order, adj. 1919–
6. zero plane, n. 1842–
7. zero point, n. 1789–
8. zero-point energy, n. 1913–
9. zero population growth, n. 1955–
10. zero post, n. 1908–
11. zero-power, adj.1950–
12. zero-rate, v. 1972–
13. zero-rated, adj. 1972–
14. zero rating, n. 1971–
15. zero sound, n. 1957–
16. zero-sum, adj. 1944–
17. zeroth, adj. 1850–
18. zero tillage, n. 1963–
19. zero tolerance, n. 1940–
20. zerovalent, adj. 1906–
21. zero waste, adj. & n. 1974–

## Meaning & use

Nuclear Physics.

1. 1950–
   Designating a small nuclear reactor, usually built for research purposes, that develops so little power that no cooling and minimal shielding are required; = zero-energy adj.
   1. 1950

      > Zero-power reactor, an experimental nuclear reactor operated at low neutron flux and at a power level so low that not only is no forced cooling required but also fission-product activity in the fuel is sufficiently low to allow the fuel to be handled after use without serious hazard.

      Nucleonics September 104/2
   2. 1983

      > Plate versus pin geometry continues to be an issue for Zero-Power Plutonium Reactor (ZPPR) analysis.

      Transactions Amer. Nuclear Society vol. 44 528/2
   3. 2014

      > It is a light-water zero-power pool-type reactor.

      Ann. Nuclear Energy vol. 71 91
   nuclear physics
   1. zero-energy 1947–
      Designating a small nuclear reactor, built for research purposes, that develops so little power that no cooling and minimal shielding are required; =…
   2. zero-power 1950–
      Designating a small nuclear reactor, usually built for research purposes, that develops so little power that no cooling and minimal shielding are…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Frequency

zero-power typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zero-power is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zero-power, adj., 1950–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1950 | 0.011
1960 | 0.0094
1970 | 0.0083
1980 | 0.0076
1990 | 0.0059
2000 | 0.0046
2010 | 0.0037

Originally published as part of the entry for zero, n. & adj.

zero, n. & adj. was revised in June 2018.