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• ion
  ion

  noun

  an electrically charged atom or group of atoms formed by the loss or gain of one or more electrons, as a cation positive ion, which is created by electron loss and is attracted to the cathode in electrolysis, or as an anion negative ion, which is created by an electron gain and is attracted to the anode. The valence of an ion is equal to the number of electrons lost or gained and is indicated by a plus sign for cations and a minus sign for anions, thus: Na + , Cl−, Ca ++ , S = .
• Ion
  Ion

  noun

  the eponymous ancestor of the Ionians: a son of Apollo and Creusa who is abandoned by his mother but returns to become an attendant in Apollo's temple at Delphi.
• -ion
  -ion

  a suffix, appearing in words of Latin origin, denoting action or condition, used in Latin and in English to form nouns from stems of Latin adjectives (communion; union ), verbs (legion; opinion ), and especially past participles (allusion; creation; fusion; notion; torsion ).
• Ion.
  Ion.

  abbreviation

  Ionic.

SEE ALSO:

Slang dictionary results for ion.

ion

¹ American  

[ahy-uhn, ahy-on] / ˈaɪ ən, ˈaɪ ɒn /

noun

Physics, Chemistry.

• ions
  plural

1. an electrically charged atom or group of atoms formed by the loss or gain of one or more electrons, as a cation positive ion, which is created by electron loss and is attracted to the cathode in electrolysis, or as an anion negative ion, which is created by an electron gain and is attracted to the anode. The valence of an ion is equal to the number of electrons lost or gained and is indicated by a plus sign for cations and a minus sign for anions, thus: Na + , Cl−, Ca ++ , S = .

2. one of the electrically charged particles formed in a gas by electric discharge or the like.

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Ion ² American  

[ahy-on] / ˈaɪ ɒn /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. the eponymous ancestor of the Ionians: a son of Apollo and Creusa who is abandoned by his mother but returns to become an attendant in Apollo's temple at Delphi.

2. (italics) a drama on this subject (415? b.c.) by Euripides.

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-ion ³ American  

1. a suffix, appearing in words of Latin origin, denoting action or condition, used in Latin and in English to form nouns from stems of Latin adjectives (communion; union ), verbs (legion; opinion ), and especially past participles (allusion; creation; fusion; notion; torsion ).

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Ion. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. Ionic.

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ion ¹ British  

/ ˈaɪən, -ɒn /

noun

1. an electrically charged atom or group of atoms formed by the loss or gain of one or more electrons See also cation anion

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-ion ² British  

suffix

1. indicating an action, process, or state Compare -ation -tion

   creation

   objection

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ion Scientific  

/ ī′ən,ī′ŏn′ /

1. An atom or a group of atoms that has an electric charge. Positive ions, or cations, are formed by the loss of electrons; negative ions, or anions, are formed by the gain of electrons.

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ion Cultural  

1. An atom that has either lost or gained one or more electrons, so that it has an electrical charge. Ions can be either positively or negatively charged.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ion¹

< Greek ión going, neuter present participle of iénai to go; term introduced by Michael Faraday in 1834

Origin of -ion³

< Latin -iōn- (stem of -iō ) suffix forming nouns, especially on past participle stems; replacing Middle English -ioun < Anglo-French < Latin -iōn-

Explanation

An ion is an atom or particle with a positive or negative electrical charge. Think of an ion as having a plus or minus sign. Ion is a word you are most likely to encounter in a physics or chemistry text. But you don’t have to be a chemist or physicist to understand the concept. If you had a neutral particle and you were able to remove or add an electron, then you would have an ion — a charged particle. Don't confuse the tiny ion with the similar word eon, which is an extremely long period of time.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ion Ion Ion. ions

The discovery could also strengthen the case for sodium ion batteries as an alternative to lithium-based technology.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

Sodium ion batteries could offer a more sustainable way to store large amounts of energy, and new research suggests they may eventually serve another valuable purpose: helping remove salt from seawater.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

Rapamycin reversed abnormal patterns of gene expression involving autism, epilepsy, and ion channel function.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026

"By making cosmic dust in the lab, we can explore the intensity of ion impacts and temperatures involved when dust forms in space," Professor McKenzie said.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026

"But we wouldn't lose Hermes. We can remotely operate it. So long as the reactor and ion engines continued to work, we could bring it back."

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

"These magnons can transmit information through a magnet without the need for charge transport," explains project leader Dr. Helmut Schultheiß from the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research at HZDR.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 27, 2026

Games will also air on Ion and USA Network.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

Over the summer, for example, Scripps signed a fresh multiyear media-rights agreement to carry Friday night Women’s National Basketball Association matchups on its Ion network.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025

Notably, the number of worldwide procedures performed using the da Vinci system and Ion bronchoscopy platform rose 20%, with the Ion platform seeing particularly strong growth.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2025

He held out his arms to Ion, who stepped back in cold distaste.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

In the first place, the Portuguese, who discovered that island in 1506, and explored its coasts in the following years, could not have Ion. remained in ignorance of De Gonneville's voyage.

From The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 by Ernest Favenc

“I must have had a metal cup on. It glitched the ions in the air.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

Solid oxide cells move oxygen ions through a solid material to perform two different functions.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026

It involves inserting electrodes made of materials such as zinc and copper into substances that contain moisture or ions, and then collecting the small but steady electrical currents.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

One major obstacle was that a single spacecraft could not observe the undisturbed solar wind upstream of Mars while also measuring atmospheric ions escaping closer to the planet.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026

Then the beastly uncertainty as to whether Mg++ ions were important could vanish.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson