Meaning & use

monomer

noun·Advanced

A small molecule that can chemically bond with identical molecules to form a larger polymer.

See it in a sentence

Ethylene is the monomer used to produce the plastic polyethylene.

Chemists linked thousands of monomer units together to create the new synthetic fiber.

A note on using this word

Monomer and polymer are complementary chemistry terms: many monomers join together to form a single polymer chain.

Words with a similar meaning

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Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

polymer

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