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Apr 6, 2022
This week’s theme
Words from chemistry

This week’s words
litmus test
flashpoint
chain reaction
borax
boiling point

chain reaction
I can’t stop doing chemistry jokes. Chain reactions.
Image: Quickmeme

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

chain reaction

PRONUNCIATION:
(CHAYN ree-ak-shuhn)

MEANING:
noun:
1. A series of events, each triggered or influenced by the previous.
2. A chemical or nuclear reaction that results in products that cause further reactions.

ETYMOLOGY:
From chain, from Old French chaine/chaeine, from Latin catena (chain) + act, from Latin actus (act). Earliest documented use: 1926.

USAGE:
“The result will be an economic chain reaction affecting nearly everyone in the country.”
Jason Markusoff; Look Up. Way Up: That’s Where the Price of Everything Is Going; Maclean’s (Toronto, Canada); Jan 2022.

See more usage examples of chain reaction in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
This habit of forming opinions, and acting upon them without evidence, is one of the most immoral habits of the mind. ... As our opinions are the fathers of our actions, to be indifferent about the evidence of our opinions is to be indifferent about the consequences of our actions. -James Mill, philosopher (6 Apr 1773-1836)

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