unit cell

American

noun

Crystallography.

the simplest unit of a regular lattice.

unit cell British

noun

crystallog the smallest group of atoms, ions, or molecules that is characteristic of a particular crystal lattice

"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

Etymology

Origin of unit cell

First recorded in 1935–40

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.

See Examples For:

unit cell

In twisted antiferromagnetic layers, magnetic spin patterns are not limited to the small repeating moiré unit cell.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 2, 2026

Ice XXI shows an unusually large and intricate unit cell compared to other known phases.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2025

Last week, a 34-year-old man was found unconscious in a medical unit cell at the jail, where he had been held since 2019.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2023

A cubic unit cell contains only the parts of these atoms that are within it.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

Atoms in the corners of a BCC unit cell do not contact each other but contact the atom in the center.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

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