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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

chain.

A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈt͡ʃeɪn/
  1. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal.

    He wore a gold chain around the neck.
    The anchor is connected to the boat with a 100-metre long chain.
  2. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. An accessory, adornment or insignia comprising, containing or depicting a series of links.

    wallet chain
  3. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A livery collar, a chain of office.

  4. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. That which confines, fetters, or secures; a bond.

    figuratively
    the chains of habit
  5. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A snow chain.

    plural · usually
    He put chains on my tires.
  6. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A bicycle chain.

    My bike needs a chain.
  7. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A pair of sticks connected by a ten yard chain, used to measure a down in American football.

  8. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A watchchain.

    His watch's chain was gold-plated.
  9. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A keychain.

    Get the key off my chain.
  10. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A necklace of chain jewelry, usually gold.

    slang
    They knocked him out and snatched his chain.
  11. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A door chain.

    I couldn't open the door because it was on its chain.
  12. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A series of interconnected links of known length, used as a measuring device.

  13. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A long measuring tape.

  14. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A unit of length, exactly equal to 22 yards, which is 4 rods or 100 links, and approximately equal to 20.12 metres; the length of a Gunter's surveying chain; the length of a cricket pitch.

  15. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. Iron links bolted to the side of a vessel to bold the dead-eyes connected with the shrouds; also, the channels.

    in-plural
  16. A series of interconnected rings or links usually made of metal. A lightning bolt.

    figuratively
    I saw a brilliant chain of lightning across the sky.
  17. A series of interconnected things.

    a chain of mountains
    a chain of ideas, one leading to the next
  18. A series of interconnected things. An unbroken streak.

    We have to maintain chain of custody.
    You mustn't break the chain of this chain letter.
  19. A series of interconnected things. A series of stores or businesses with the same brand name; a series of such stores as opposed to a small, independent shop.

    That chain of restaurants is expanding into our town.
    I love that place because it's not a chain.
  20. A series of interconnected things. A chain of command.

    Send it up the chain, so head office will have to deal with it.
  21. A series of interconnected things. The sequence of processes and transactions that result in a product or commodity being available.

    figuratively
    cold chain, kill chain, supply chain, value chain
  22. A series of interconnected things. The warp threads of a web.

  23. A series of interconnected things. A sequence of linked house purchases, each of which is dependent on the preceding and succeeding purchase (said to be "broken" if a buyer or seller pulls out).

    UK
  24. A series of interconnected things. A blockchain.

  25. A series of interconnected things. A kinetic chain.

  26. A series of interconnected things. A number of atoms in a series, which combine to form a molecule.

    physical
    side chain
    When examined, the molecular chain included oxygen and hydrogen.
  27. A totally ordered set, especially a totally ordered subset of a poset.

  28. A formal sum of cells in a CW complex of a certain dimension k (in which case the formal sums are called k'''-chains); a formal sum of simplices or cubes of a certain dimension in a simplical complex or cubical complex (respectively).

  29. An element of a group (or module) in a chain complex.

    broadly
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *katesnā Latin catēna Old French chaeinebor. Middle English cheyne English chain From Middle English cheyne, chaine, from Old French chaeine, chaene (“chain”), from Latin catēna (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to braid, twist; hut, shed”). Doublet of catena. Displaced native Middle English rakil and rakent (from Old English racente (“chain”)); see rackan.

verb/ˈt͡ʃeɪn/
  1. To fasten something with a chain.

    transitive
    You should chain your bicycle to the railings to protect it from being stolen.
  2. To connect as if with a chain, due to dependence, addiction, or other feelings

    figuratively
    Sometimes I feel like I'm chained to this computer.
    She's been chained to her principles since she was 18, it's unlikely you can convince her otherwise.
  3. To link multiple items together.

    intransitive
  4. To secure someone with fetters.

    transitive
  5. To obstruct the mouth of a river etc with a chain.

    transitive
  6. To obligate.

    figuratively
  7. To relate data items with a chain of pointers.

  8. To be chained to another data item.

  9. To measure a distance using a 66-foot long chain, as in land surveying.

    transitive
  10. To load and automatically run (a program).

    rare · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *katesnā Latin catēna Old French chaeinebor. Middle English cheyne English chain From Middle English cheyne, chaine, from Old French chaeine, chaene (“chain”), from Latin catēna (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to braid, twist; hut, shed”). Doublet of catena. Displaced native Middle English rakil and rakent (from Old English racente (“chain”)); see rackan.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.