ion

¹ American  

[ahy-uhn, ahy-on] / ˈaɪ ən, ˈaɪ ɒn /

noun

Physics, Chemistry.

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  

abbreviation

1. Ionic.

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-ion ⁴ 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 ¹ British  

suffix

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

   creation

   objection

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ion ² 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 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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Etymology

Origin of ion¹

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

Origin of -ion¹

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

Example Sentences

The findings clarify why certain advanced lithium ion batteries break down faster than expected and how those failures might be reduced.

From Science Daily

PIP2 plays an essential role in cell signaling and ion channel regulation -- a complex process that controls when protein pores in cells open and close.

From Science Daily

Cause and effect run across many scales at once, from ion channels to dendrites to circuits to whole-brain dynamics, and these levels do not behave like independent modules stacked in layers.

From Science Daily

Continuous fields, ion flows, dendritic integration, local oscillatory coupling, and emergent electromagnetic interactions are not just biological "details" that can be ignored while extracting an abstract algorithm.

From Science Daily

Tennis has had its share of coaching characters—Ion Tiriac in shades and a thick mustache for Boris Becker; Ivan Lendl posed like a Sphinx in Andy Murray’s box—but it was also a trade that prided itself on players solving problems on their own.

From The Wall Street Journal