1. Plural of debye; a unit of electric dipole moment in the centimeter-gram-second system, used in chemistry and physics.
Usage: technical; physics/chemistry; symbol: D

Examples

• The dipole moment of water is approximately 1.85 debyes.
• Chemists measure molecular polarity in debyes to compare different compounds.
• The debye unit, named after Peter Debye, remains useful for expressing dipole moments in debyes.
• A molecule with a dipole moment of several debyes is considered highly polar.