 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Molecule \Mol"e*cule\, noun [Dim. fr. L. moles a mass: cf. F. mol['e]cule. See 3d {Mole}.]
1. One of the very small invisible particles of which all ordinary matter is supposed to consist.
2. (Physics) The smallest part of any substance which possesses the characteristic properties and qualities of that substance, and which can exist alone in a free state.
3. (Chem.) A group of atoms so united and combined by chemical affinity that they form a complete, integrated whole, being the smallest portion of any particular compound that can exist in a free state; as, a molecule of water consists of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Cf. {Atom}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
molecule
noun
1: (physics and chemistry) the simplest structural unit of an element or compound
2: (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything [syn: {atom}, {particle}, {corpuscle}, {mote}, {speck}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
138 Moby Thesaurus words for "molecule": Kekule formula, ace, acid, acidity, agent, air, alkali, alkalinity, alloisomer, anion, antacid, atom, atomic cluster, atomic particles, base, benzene ring, biochemical, bit, branched chain, brute matter, building block, cation, chain, chemical, chemical element, chromoisomer, closed chain, component, compound, compound radical, constituent, copolymer, cycle, dab, dimer, dole, dot, dram, dribble, driblet, dwarf, earth, electron, element, elementary particle, elementary unit, farthing, fire, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, fundamental particle, gobbet, grain, granule, groat, hair, handful, heavy chemicals, heterocycle, high polymer, homocycle, homopolymer, hydracid, hyle, hypostasis, inorganic chemical, ion, iota, isomer, jot, lattice, little, little bit, lota, macromolecule, material, material world, materiality, matter, meson, metamer, minim, minimum, minutiae, mite, modicum, monad, monomer, mote, natural world, nature, neutralizer, nonacid, nuclear particle, nutshell, organic chemical, ounce, oxyacid, particle, pebble, physical world, pinch, pittance, plenum, point, polymer, proton, pseudoisomer, quark, radical, ray, reagent, ring, scruple, side chain, simple radical, smidgen, smitch, space-lattice, speck, spoonful, spot, straight chain, stuff, substance, substratum, sulfacid, the four elements, thimbleful, tiny bit, tittle, trifling amount, trimer, trivia, unit of being, water, whit
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
MOLECULE, noun The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. It is distinguished from the corpuscle, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of matter, by a closer resemblance to the atom, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. Three great scientific theories of the structure of the universe are the molecular, the corpuscular and the atomic. A fourth affirms, with Haeckel, the condensation of precipitation of matter from ether -- whose existence is proved by the condensation of precipitation. The present trend of scientific thought is toward the theory of ions. The ion differs from the molecule, the corpuscle and the atom in that it is an ion. A fifth theory is held by idiots, but it is doubtful if they know any more about the matter than the others.
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |