monad

mo·nad  (mnd)

n.

1. Philosophy An indivisible, impenetrable unit of substance viewed as the basic constituent element of physical reality in the metaphysics of Leibniz.

2. Biology A single-celled microorganism, especially a flagellate protozoan of the genus Monas.

3. Chemistry An atom or a radical with valence 1.

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[Latin monas, monad-, unit, from Greek, from monos, single; see men-⁴ in Indo-European roots.]

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mo·nadic (m-ndk), mo·nadi·cal adj.

mo·nadi·cal·ly adv.

monad·ism n.

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monad

Noun

1. Philosophy any fundamental singular metaphysical entity

2. a single-celled organism

3. an atom, ion, or radical with a valency of one [Greek monas unit]

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monad

any simple, single-cell organism. — monadic, monadical, monadal, adj.

See also: Cells

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	monad - (chemistry) an atom having a valence of one chemical science, chemistry - the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions atom - (physics and chemistry) the smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element
	2.	monad - a singular metaphysical entity from which material properties are said to derive monas 1, ace, one, single, unity, I - the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number; "he has the one but will need a two and three to go with it"; "they had lunch at one"
	3.	monad - (biology) a single-celled microorganism (especially a flagellate protozoan) micro-organism, microorganism - any organism of microscopic size biological science, biology - the science that studies living organisms