valence
Syllables: va·lence/ˈveɪl(ə)ns/US/ˈveɪləns/
valence noun: the combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical determined by the number of atoms of hydrogen with which it will unite, or the number of electrons that it will gain, lose, or share when it combines with other atoms, etc. Also the alternative spelling of valance.
Noun
valence (countable and uncountable, plural valences)
- The combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical determined by the number of atoms of hydrogen with which it will unite, or the number of electrons that it will gain, lose, or share when it combines with other atoms, etc.
- Synonyms:
- atomicity, quantivalence, quantivalency, valency
- The number of binding sites of a molecule, such as an antibody or antigen.
- The number of arguments that a verb can have, including its subject, ranging from zero to three or, less commonly, four.
- In this assignment you will analyze each of the following sentences and determine the valence of the highlighted verb.
- Synonyms:
- valency
- A one-dimensional value assigned by a person to an object, situation, or state, that can usually be positive (causing a feeling of attraction) or negative (repulsion).
- anger and fear have negative valence
- The value which a person places on something.
- For a correspondence T on a curve: a number k such that the divisors T(P)+kP are all linearly equivalent.
Proper noun capitalized: Valence
Valence
- A city and commune, the capital of the department of Drôme, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, southeastern France.
- A village and commune in the department of Charente, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, southwestern France.
- A town and commune in the department of Tarn-et-Garonne, Occitania region, southern France.
Also used as
valence is also the alternative spelling of valance.
valence meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
valence in Hindi
- chemistry: combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical
- संयोजकता sãyojaktā
valence in Tamil
- chemistry: combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical
- இணைதிறன் iṇaitiṟaṉ
valence in Marathi
- chemistry: combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical
- संयुजा saiyujā
valence in Urdu
- chemistry: combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical
- ظرف
More languagesFewer languages
- valence in Bengali
- যোজনী jōjoni
- valence in Telugu
- బాహుబలం bāhubalaṁ
- valence in Punjabi
- ਸੰਯੋਜਕਤਾ sãyojkatā
- valence in Tagalog
- balensiya, kalwing
- valence in Arabic
- تكافؤ takāfuʔ, تَعَلُّق taʕalluq
- valence in Indonesian
- valensi
- valence in Persian
- ظرفیت شیمیایی, تعلق ta'alloq
- valence in Thai
- เวเลนซ์
- valence in Vietnamese
- hóa trị, diễn trị, kết trị
Examples of valence in a sentence
- Finally, robots, more so than other technology in our lives, have a social valence.
- Another example is cobalt which has a valence of both two and three.
- The associations between word shapes and valence codes are also assumed, reflecting prior knowledge of the valence of certain words.
Synonyms of valence
Forms of valence
| plural | valences |
|---|---|
| alternative form | valency |
Origin of valence
Etymology 1, noun sense 1.1 (“combining capacity of an atom”) and etymology 1, noun sense 3 (“one-dimensional value assigned by a person to an object, situation, or state”) are borrowed from German Valenz + English -ence (suffix meaning ‘having the condition or state of’). Valenz is a clipping of Quantivalenz (“(archaic) valence in chemistry”), from English quantivalence, from Latin quantus (“how much”) + English -i- (interfix inserted between morphemes of Latin origin for ease of pronunciation) + Latin valentia (“bodily strength; health; vigour”) (whence Late Middle English valence (“medicinal preparation made from plants”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to rule; powerful, strong”)). Quantivalence was coined by F. O. Ward who communicated it to the German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818–1892), leading him to coin the German word Quantivalenz. Doublet of value. Etymology 1, noun sense 2 (“number of arguments a verb can have”) was formed by analogy to the use of the word in chemistry: see above.
A variant of valance.
Borrowed from French Valence. Doublet of Valencia.
Words formed from valence
- ambivalence
- bivalence
- covalence
- divalence
- equivalence
- hexavalence
- intervalence
- monovalence
- multivalence
- pentavalence
- polyvalence
- primary valence
- quadrivalence
- secondary valence
- social valence
- tervalence
- tetravalence
- trivalence
- univalence
- valence band
- valence bond
- valenced
- valence electron
- valence isomer
- valence issue
- valence shell
- valence window
Phrases with valence
Words that rhyme with valence
Questions about valence
- What does valence mean?
- Valence means the combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical determined by the number of atoms of hydrogen with which it will unite, or the number of electrons that it will gain, lose, or share when it combines with other atoms, etc.
- What is valence in Hindi?
- Valence in Hindi is संयोजकता (sãyojaktā). See Valence meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is valence?
- Valence can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce valence?
- Valence is pronounced /ˈveɪl(ə)ns/ (UK).
- What is the plural of valence?
- The plural of valence is valences.
Words near valence in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: valence (page history and authors); Valence (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-valence.wav.
Cite this entry: “valence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/valence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.