Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun, plural chem·is·tries.
- the science that deals with the composition and properties of substances and various elementary forms of matter.Compare element(def 2).
- chemical properties, reactions, phenomena, etc.: the chemistry of carbon.
- the interaction of one personality with another: The chemistry between him and his boss was all wrong.
- sympathetic understanding; rapport: the astonishing chemistry between the actors.
- any or all of the elements that make up something: the chemistry of love.
noun plural -tries
- the branch of physical science concerned with the composition, properties, and reactions of substancesSee also inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry
- the composition, properties, and reactions of a particular substance
- the nature and effects of any complex phenomenonthe chemistry of humour
- informal a reaction, taken to be instinctual, between two persons
c.1600, “alchemy,” from chemist + -ry; also see chemical (adj.). The meaning “natural physical process” is 1640s, and the scientific study not so called until 1788. The figurative sense of “instinctual attraction or affinity” is attested slightly earlier, from the alchemical sense.
n.
- The science of the composition, structure, properties, and reactions of matter, especially of atomic and molecular systems.
- The composition, structure, properties, and reactions of a substance.
- The scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of the chemical elements and the compounds they form.
- The composition, structure, properties, and reactions of a substance.
The study of the composition, properties, and reactions of matter, particularly at the level of atoms and molecules.