polymer
A long or larger molecule consisting of a chain or network of many repeating units, formed by chemically bonding together many identical or similar small molecules called monomers. A polymer is formed by polymerization, the joining of many monomer molecules.
Other meanings
A material consisting of such polymer molecules.
A kind of
- compound
Kinds of polymer
- synthetic resin
- lignin
Word history
From Ancient Greek "πολύς" (many).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “polymer” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.