lone pair

British

noun

chem a pair of valency electrons of opposite spin that are not shared between the atoms in a molecule and are responsible for the formation of coordinate bonds

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The Coast Guard has long complained that its lone pair of aging icebreakers are struggling to stay in service but may now have the opportunity to build six new ones.

From New York Times

The significance of the lone pair–π interaction in crystal engineering has been noted by Reedijk and co-workers, based on a thorough analysis of the crystallographic database91.

From Nature

Watching the home Wrigley fans through the two soul-chilling previous evenings was close to unbearable, as their guys put up nothing but zeroes in their 1–0 Game 3 loss, and then a lone pair in the 7–2 loss on Saturday.

From The New Yorker

"I am a brave man to come here to pray today," said Segawa after he rose from the carpets and mats on the floor of the Masjid Taqwa mosque, a nondescript building on the edge of a slum, stepped outside and slid the lone pair of sandals onto his feet.

From US News

A lone pair of socks still dangles from a washing line and unpicked grapes have begun to shrivel on the vine.

From Reuters

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023