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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  

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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ions
  plural

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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 -ion³

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

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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 author’s own research involves measuring tiny electrical currents flowing through parts of our brain cells called ion channels.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

Instead of searching for quark and antiquark pairs after lead ion collisions, the researchers looked for events in which one quark traveled through the plasma in nearly the opposite direction from a "Z boson."

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

To examine the samples, the researchers used focused ion beam preparation, transmission electron microscopy, and chemical analysis.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026

Some companies that spoke to the BBC suggested sodium ion might reach as low as $30 per kWh but analysts say significantly lower costs could be many years away, external.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

"Vogel," Lewis continued, "how far can we deflect in thirty- nine minutes with the ion engines?"

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

"We are in a new era here, similar to 70-odd years ago," said Frank Nerling, a Jefferson Lab collaborator from Germany's GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research and Goethe University Frankfurt.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 2, 2026

Games will also air on Ion and USA Network.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

Raducanu's father, Ion, is from Bucharest and an exhausted but thrilled Raducanu briefly addressed the crowd in Romanian after her victory.

From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026

A major part of Moldova's capital, Chisinau, was left without electricity, Mayor Ion Ceban said.

From Barron's ● Jan. 31, 2026

He told her that his name was Ion, but that he did not know where he had come from.

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

Their results suggest that the 2′-OH allows RNA to interact more strongly with magnesium ions.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

Carefully controlled laser beams were then used to adjust how the ions interacted with one another.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026

Oxygen ions produce bright emission lines when illuminated by massive stars, which makes them comparatively easy to detect.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026

A resonator's vibrational energy changes in distinct steps rather than continuously, much like the behavior previously observed in ions and photons.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

That’s what people say when invisible feelings vibrate in the air, like ions do just before an electric storm.

From "The London Eye Mystery" by Siobhan Dowd

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