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Definition of "acyclic" [a•cyc•lic]

  • Botany Not cyclic. Used especially of flowers whose parts are arranged in spirals rather than in whorls, as in magnolias. (adjective)
  • Chemistry Having an open-chain molecular structure rather than a ring-shaped structure. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "acyclic" in a sentence
  • "The basic model creates acyclic graphs because old nodes never link to new nodes."
  • "In later versions of the model, some rewiring was also introduced to make sure that the graph that is generated is not acyclic."
  • "There was the handmade paper phase, the hand-bound journal phase, the acyclic paint phase, the scrap booking phase, the Fimo clay phase, the beading phase, the homemade head band phase, the hemp jewelry phase, ACK!"