Function: noun
Date: 1964
: a fundamental physical force that acts on hadrons and is responsible for the binding together of protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus and for processes of particle creation in high-energy collisions and that is the strongest known fundamental physical force but acts only over distances comparable to those between nucleons in an atomic nucleus ― called also strong interaction strong nuclear force ― compare ELECTROMAGNETISM 2a GRAVITY 3a(2) WEAK FORCE