1. the degree to which a chemical bond has ionic character, typically measured on a scale from purely covalent to purely ionic
Usage: chemistry; technical

Examples

• The ionicity of a bond increases as the electronegativity difference between atoms grows larger.
• Sodium chloride has high ionicity because sodium and chlorine have very different electronegativities.
• Chemists use ionicity to predict whether a compound will behave as an ionic or covalent substance.
• The ionicity of hydrogen fluoride is greater than that of hydrogen chloride.
• Understanding ionicity helps explain the properties of polar and nonpolar molecules.