CHAIN

(CONNECTED THINGS) [noun] [C] - a set of connected or related thingsa mountain chainShe has built up a chain of 180 bookshops across the country.We witnessed a remarkable chain of events in eastern Europe in 1989.A chain letter is a letter promising or asking for something, such as money, which is sent to several people who are each asked to send copies to several others, and which sometimes threatens that bad things will happen if they do not send these copies.A chain reaction is a set of related events in which each event causes the next one.The explosion crushes the plutonium, thereby increasing its density and starting the chain reaction of nuclear fission.The war risked setting off a perilous chain reaction that would endanger the whole of the world.A person who chain-smokes or is a chain-smoker smokes almost continuously, often lighting one cigarette from the end of the previous one.Joan's under a lot of pressure these days - she's been chain-smoking ever since her divorce.A chain store is (one of) a group of shops which belong to a single company, has the same appearance and sells similar goods.The chain stores are driving the small family-run shops out of business.He works for one of the major chain stores.