How to Use monomer in a Sentence

monomer

noun
  • When they’re hit by intense sunlight, the dimers break apart into two monomers again.
    — Elise Cutts, Quanta Magazine, 19 Dec. 2023
  • These monomers each include a new cap so that only one molecule gets added to each strand.
    — Phillip W. Barth, IEEE Spectrum, 25 Mar. 2024
  • Plastics are polymers, made of a chain of molecules called monomers.
    — Joseph States, Chicago Tribune, 15 Jan. 2025
  • The idea is to break those polymers down into individual links, or monomers.
    — Eva Botkin-Kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 July 2018
  • Gel polish is made up of acrylic monomers and oligomers that bond together when placed under UV light.
    — Jenna Rosenstein, Allure, 21 Mar. 2020
  • The resulting monomers can then be re-polymerized into a new moldable plastic resin.
    — National Geographic, 13 June 2018
  • This oil is packed with the pure monomers needed to manufacture brand-new, high-quality plastic.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 8 June 2026
  • Clean factories would reformulate the plastics into monomers that can be used again.
    — William McDonough, Scientific American, 1 July 2017
  • Clean factories would reformulate the plastics into monomers that could be used again.
    — William McDonough, Scientific American, 1 July 2017
  • Acrylics are created using liquid monomer and powder polymer, which should be mixed carefully by your nail tech.
    — Tori Crowther, Refinery29, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Gel polishes are made with a mix of acrylic monomers and oligomers that harden under UV light to create a hard, glossy coat.
    — Halie Lesavage, Harper's BAZAAR, 21 Feb. 2023
  • The monomers were made up of molecules holding four extended aromatic groups, which gave them their X shape.
    — Michael Franco, New Atlas, 17 Jan. 2025
  • The challenge is if even one monomer begins to rotate, the polymer becomes three-dimensional.
    — Michelle Shen, USA TODAY, 7 Feb. 2022
  • Most kits come with a brush along with several powders, a liquid monomer (which solidifies to make the nail hard), and a nail filer.
    — Women's Health, 24 Feb. 2023
  • To make plastics from those substances, manufacturers must first break them into their building blocks, or monomers.
    — Scientific American, 1 Dec. 2019
  • Others use a depolymerization process to break components down to the monomer level.
    — Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019
  • These are long chains of organic molecules made of individual units called monomers.
    — Aaron Priester, The Conversation, 19 Feb. 2025
  • Polymers are formed by chemical reactions among subunits called monomers, which can link up to create a gel like the type used in gummy candies.
    — Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 8 June 2023
  • Plastics like polystyrene, polymethacrylate, and polypropylene are polymers, long chains of the same repeating unit, or monomer.
    — WIRED, 3 Nov. 2022
  • Polyurethane is a polymer, a large molecule that consists of multiple smaller molecules called monomers.
    — Scottie Andrew, CNN, 30 Mar. 2020
  • In the percolation-theory framework, each monomer acts as a node, and two neighbors may spontaneously form a bond, or edge.
    — Kelsey Houston-Edwards, Scientific American, 16 Mar. 2021
  • Styrene monomer is used in the production of disposable foam plates, cups and other products, and can produce poisonous fumes when ignited.
    — David Rising, Star Tribune, 6 July 2021
  • In most gel products, the main component is acrylates; these are monomers or oligomers, which are small molecules or chains of molecules and can come in a thick liquid form.
    — Holly Burns, Time, 30 Sep. 2025
  • This broke the solid waste into soluble monomers and alcohols that later served as hydrogen donors in the reaction.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 8 May 2026
  • To get the monomers to link together, a lone electron – or free radical – initiates a bond with a monomer, triggering a chain reaction.
    — Aaron Priester, The Conversation, 19 Feb. 2025
  • Its executives uproot lives, tear families apart, and expose workers to coal dust and vinyl chloride monomer, which has been linked to liver tumors.
    — Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Longreads, 21 June 2022
  • Acrylic nails are nail extensions and enhancements created by mixing powder and liquid monomer together to form a paste which is shaped onto your nails.
    — Sydney Wingfield, Glamour, 9 Dec. 2022
  • An intact postmortem brain is immersed in the hydrogel solution, and a kind of small molecule called a monomer , infuses the tissue.
    — Perrin Ireland, Discover Magazine, 26 Apr. 2013
  • One enzyme acts as a random chopper, snipping the long polymer chains into smaller pieces, while the other slowly chews these pieces into their monomer building units from each end.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 3 May 2026
  • An acrylic overlay combines a liquid monomer and powder polymer, creating a hard protective layer over your natural nail.
    — Nerisha Penrose, ELLE, 28 Feb. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'monomer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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