VALENCY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does valency mean? 

• VALENCY (noun)
  The noun VALENCY has 3 senses:

1. the phenomenon of forming chemical bonds

2. (biology) a relative capacity to unite or react or interact as with antigens or a biological substrate

3. (chemistry) a property of atoms or radicals; their combining power given in terms of the number of hydrogen atoms (or the equivalent)

  Familiarity information: VALENCY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VALENCY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The phenomenon of forming chemical bonds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("valency" is a kind of...):

chemical phenomenon (any natural phenomenon involving chemistry (as changes to atoms or molecules))

Sense 2

Meaning:

(biology) a relative capacity to unite or react or interact as with antigens or a biological substrate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

valence; valency

Hypernyms ("valency" is a kind of...):

power; powerfulness (possession of controlling influence)

Attribute:

univalent (used of a chromosome that is not paired or united with its homologous chromosome during synapsis)

bivalent; double (used of homologous chromosomes associated in pairs in synapsis)

multivalent (used of the association of three or more homologous chromosomes during the first division of meiosis)

monovalent (containing only one kind of antibody)

polyvalent (containing several antibodies each capable of counteracting a specific antigen)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(chemistry) a property of atoms or radicals; their combining power given in terms of the number of hydrogen atoms (or the equivalent)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

valence; valency

Hypernyms ("valency" is a kind of...):

power; powerfulness (possession of controlling influence)

Attribute:

monovalent; univalent (having a valence of 1)

multivalent; polyvalent (having more than one valence, or having a valence of 3 or higher)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "valency"):

covalence; covalency (valence characterized by the sharing of electrons in a chemical compound; the number of pairs of electrons an atom can share)

Derivation:

valent ((chemistry) having valence; usually used in combination)

 Context examples 

Cytochrome P450 Family Genes encode Cytochrome P450 isozymes, hemoprotein components of the mixed-function oxidase system involving electron and/or hydrogen transport through reversible valency change of the heme iron and metabolic biotransformation of substances, including foreign compounds to mutagens and carcinogens.

(Cytochrome P450 Family Gene, NCI Thesaurus)