atomitat

Syllables: a·to·mi·tatUS/əˈtɑː.mɪ.tæt/

atomitat noun: a luxury underground bunker; an underground house designed for habitation during a nuclear fallout or other catastrophic event; a luxurious (and often large, homely) fallout shelter.

Image: Unknown, 1964 Underground World Homes structure for the New, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

atomitat (plural atomitats)

(US, rare) A luxury underground bunker; an underground house designed for habitation during a nuclear fallout or other catastrophic event; a luxurious (and often large, homely) fallout shelter.
- Visitors to the New York World's Fair in 1964-65 will get a chance to share the "oohs" and "aahs" in Plainview for the last year and a half. Jay Swayze, Plainview contractor and president of Underground World Home Corporation, is building another of his famed "Atomitats" at the World's Fair site.1963 October 8, “Archived copy”, in Plainview Herald, archived from the original on 04 Jul 2026
- It has a den, living room, dining room, kitchen — and even a patio, all enclosed within a concrete shell. The atomitat resulted from an idea Swayze had some years ago at a civil defense discussion on family fallout shelters.1966 May 29, Mike Cochran, “Three Years in Subterranean House”, in The Japan Times, number 24,204, page 4

Examples of atomitat in a sentence

In last year's tornado, numerous people went to the atomitat and the Hammans were the only ones who had electricity for several hours, using their emergency supply until high lines were repaired.1971 January 27, “Underground House Pleasing Home For Plainview Family”, in Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, volume 74, page 10-B:
To market the atomic habitat (atomitat) he built a version of his home for the 1962 World's Fair.2012 March 5, Rachelle Linner, “Bomboozled: How the U.S. Government Misled Itself and Its People into Believing They Could Survive a...
One could tour an "atomitat," short for atomic habitat, an underground house to ease fears of a nuclear war.2024 September 13, Ruth D. Nelson, “A World's Fair Could Be Just What We Need”, in Time:

Forms of atomitat

plural	atomitats

Origin of atomitat

Blend of atomic + habitat. Coined around November 1961 by American architect Jay Swayze, originally as the name of his underground bunker and home in Plainview, Texas, which completed construction in 1962.

Questions about atomitat

What does atomitat mean?: Atomitat means a luxury underground bunker; an underground house designed for habitation during a nuclear fallout or other catastrophic event; a luxurious (and often large, homely) fallout shelter.
How do you use atomitat in a sentence?: In last year's tornado, numerous people went to the atomitat and the Hammans were the only ones who had electricity for several hours, using their emergency supply until high lines were repaired.
What part of speech is atomitat?: Atomitat is a noun.
How do you pronounce atomitat?: Atomitat is pronounced /əˈtɑː.mɪ.tæt/ (US).
What is the plural of atomitat?: The plural of atomitat is atomitats.

Words near atomitat in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: atomitat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “atomitat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/atomitat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.