unit cell

American  

noun

Crystallography.

1. the simplest unit of a regular lattice.

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unit cell British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of unit cell

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

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

From Science Daily • Nov. 16, 2025

Compared with the previously studied hybrid 2D perovskites, the CL-v phase is stabilised by the addition of another B cation into the unit cell and has the general formula A2B2X4.

From Science Daily • May 9, 2024

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

This arrangement is called simple cubic structure, and the unit cell is called the simple cubic unit cell or primitive cubic unit cell.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019

Since a Po unit cell contains one-eighth of a Po atom at each of its eight corners, a unit cell contains one Po atom.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019