Meaning & use
binary compound
A chemical compound made up of exactly two different elements combined in fixed proportions.
See it in a sentence
Water is a binary compound because it contains only hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
Sodium chloride, or table salt, is a binary compound formed from sodium and chlorine.
A note on using this word
Binary compounds are named using an element-plus-element pattern, as in carbon dioxide, unlike compounds with three or more elements.
Words with a similar meaning
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