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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

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

They then used focused ion beams to cut hundreds of extremely small slits into the metal.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

The new technique instead identifies chirality directly through ion signals.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026

When an incoming ion strikes an oxygen-treated surface, two oxygen atoms can combine with a nearby sulfur atom to form sulfur dioxide, a stable gas that can naturally leave the surface.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026

The experiment relied on the motion of a single trapped ion.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 15, 2026

So far the calutron’s production was minuscule and its reliability imperfect, but he was already planning to replace its 10-milliampere ion source with one offering yet another tenfold increase in power.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

"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

The need for such high levels of reliability can stress the capabilities of AI architectures and humans alike, according to computer scientist and Databricks co-founder Ion Stoica.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

In the latest quarter, Intuitive recorded 17% worldwide procedure growth across both of its da Vinci and Ion systems.

From Barron's ● Apr. 21, 2026

Games will also air on Ion and USA Network.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

“It is time we sent for Prince Aegon as well,” Lord Ion announced.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

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

In metal nitrides, however, the bonds are so strong that the ions are far less willing to rearrange.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 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

Nanostructured refers to features engineered at an extremely small scale, where changes in shape and arrangement can strongly affect how ions move through a battery.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

The resulting effect was striking: a bright streak ten inches long, glowing lavender from its interaction with nitrogen ions in the atmosphere.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik