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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.

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

The unit cell consists of lattice points that represent the locations of atoms or ions.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019

Rubidium iodide crystallizes with a cubic unit cell that contains iodide ions at the corners and a rubidium ion 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