meaning of equivalent
1. Equal in wortir or value, force, power, effect, import, and the like; alike in significance and value; of the same import or meaning.
2. Equal in measure but not admitting of superposition; -- applied to magnitudes; as, a square may be equivalent to a triangle.
3. Contemporaneous in origin; as, the equivalent strata of different countries.
4. Something equivalent; that which is equal in value, worth, weight, or force; as, to offer an equivalent for damage done.
5. That comparative quantity by weight of an element which possesses the same chemical value as other elements, as determined by actual experiment and reference to the same standard. Specifically: (a) The comparative proportions by which one element replaces another in any particular compound; thus, as zinc replaces hydrogen in hydrochloric acid, their equivalents are 32. 5 and 1. (b) The combining proportion by weight of a substance, or the number expressing this proportion, in any particular compound; as, the equivalents of hydrogen and oxygen in water are respectively 1 and 8, and in hydric dioxide 1 and 16.
6. A combining unit, whether an atom, a radical, or a molecule; as, in acid salt two or more equivalents of acid unite with one or more equivalents of base.
7. To make the equivalent to; to equal; equivalence.
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