open chain

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noun Chemistry.

a series of atoms linked in a chain not joined together at its ends, and so represented in its structural formula.

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Compare closed chain.

Origin of open chain

First recorded in 1880–85

OTHER WORDS FROM open chain

open-chain, adjective

Words nearby open chain

open call, open caption, open carry, open-cast, opencast mining, open chain, open cheque, open circuit, open city, open classroom, open cluster

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use open chain in a sentence

When it became too crowded, they moved her into an open casket on the street.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Now it can't open on my phone due to what appears to be software incompatibility.
My Week on Jewish Tinder|Emily Shire|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Some of them would open up deep splits in core Democratic constituencies.
Thank Congress, Not LBJ for Great Society|Julian Zelizer, Scott Porch|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
And of course, Rod, being Rod, goes for it a hundred percent; his mouth drops open and he says, ‘What?’
The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile|Robert Ward|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Open-carry activists are known for baiting cops into on-camera arguments about the Second Amendment and state laws.
Texas Gun Slingers Police the Police—With a Black Panthers Tactic|Brandy Zadrozny|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Let them open their minds to us, let them put upon permanent record the significance of all their intrigues and manœuvres.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
She stood, in her young purity, at one end of the chain of years, and Mrs. Chepstow—did she really stand at the other?
Bella Donna|Robert Hichens
The doors (Indian bungalows have hardly any windows, each door being half glass) were open front and back.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy
It was close upon twelve o'clock, and the "Rooms" had been open to the public for two hours.
Rosemary in Search of a Father|C. N. Williamson
Worst danger zone, the open sea, now traversed, but on land not yet out of the wood.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I|Ian Hamilton

British Dictionary definitions for open chain

open chain

noun

a chain of atoms in a molecule that is not joined at its ends into the form of a ring

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

Scientific definitions for open chain

open chain

An arrangement of atoms of the same type that does not form a ring. Aliphatic compounds, such as ethane and isopropyl alcohol, are open-chain compounds.