Meaning

(countable, chemistry) Alternative form of valence (“the combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical determined by the number of atoms of hydrogen with which it will unite, or the number of electrons that it will gain, lose, or share when it combines with other atoms, etc.”)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (countable, chemistry) Alternative form of valence (“the combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical determined by the number of atoms of hydrogen with which it will unite, or the number of electrons that it will gain, lose, or share when it combines with other atoms, etc.”).
2. (countable, graph theory) The number of edges connected to a vertex in a graph.
3. (countable, linguistics) Alternative form of valence (“the number of arguments that a verb can have, including its subject, ranging from zero to three or, less commonly, four”).
4. (uncountable) Importance, significance.
5. (algebraic geometry) Alternative form of valence.

Word Forms

• valencies

Synonyms for valency

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When Should You Use Valency?

Use valency when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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