Definition of Molecule

1. Noun. (physics and chemistry) the simplest structural unit of an element or compound.


2. Noun. (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything.
Exact synonyms: Atom, Corpuscle, Mote, Particle, Speck
Specialized synonyms: Grain, Grinding, Chylomicron, Flyspeck, Identification Particle
Generic synonyms: Material, Stuff
Derivative terms: Atomic, Atomise, Molecular

Definition of Molecule

1. n. One of the very small invisible particles of which all matter is supposed to consist.

Definition of Molecule

1. Noun. (chemistry) The smallest particle of a specific element or compound that retains the chemical properties of that element or compound; two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds. ¹

2. Noun. A tiny amount. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Molecule

1. the smallest physical unit of an element [n -S]

Medical Definition of Molecule

1. The result of two or more atoms combining by chemical bonding. (09 Oct 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Molecule

molecular orbital
molecular pathology
molecular probe techniques
molecular probes
molecular sequence data
molecular sieve
molecular structure
molecular weight
molecular weight ratio
molecular weights
molecularities
molecularity
molecularity of a rection
molecularization
molecularly
molecule (current term)
molecules
moleculæ
molehead
moleheads
molehill
molehills
molehunt
molehunts
molelike
molendinarious
moleomancy
moleoscopy
moleosophy
molerat

Literary usage of Molecule

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Journal of the American Chemical Society by American Chemical Society (1879)
"It seems as likely that the instantaneous structure of the molecule in solution is an unsymmetrical one, very similar to or virtually identical with that ..."

2. Elements of the Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates by Gustav Mann, Walther Löb, Henry William Frederic Lorenz, Robert Wiedersheim, William Newton Parker, Thomas Jeffery Parker, Harry Clary Jones, Sunao Tawara, Leverett White Brownell, Max Julius Louis Le Blanc, Willis Rodney Whitney, John Wesley Brown, Wi (1907)
"The association factor for water is nearly 5; ie the molecule was found to contain 14 atoms, while the simplest water molecule contains 3. ..."

3. Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge by Charles Knight (1843)
"The result is that the expression for the altitude of a molecule of water above the mean level, in consequence of the perturbation produced by the sun or ..."

4. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society by Cambridge Philosophical Society (1843)
"molecule. Further consideration showed that the verbal definition which had previously been given for q was inadequate not only, as had already been noted, ..."

5. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1910)
"Hence an ion can not be caught when the field is on unless the molecule which is broken up into ions happens to be on the line of force running from the ..."

6. The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (1919)
"A molecule of air escaping into space with a verticle velocity greater than about seven miles per second would possess sufficient momentum to carry it ..."

7. A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism by James Clerk Maxwell (1881)
"A molecule of the anion and a molecule of the cation combined together form ... In order to act as an anion in an electrolyte, the molecule which so acts ..."

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