There is a chemical bond between two atoms or groups of atoms in the case that the forces acting between them are such as to lead to the formation of an aggregate with sufficient stability to make it convenient for the chemist to consider it as an independent 'molecular species'.
Transformed and rewritten from PDF version (entry
http://www.iupac.org/goldbook/B00697.pdf)
by: Miloslav Nic, Jiri Jirat, Bedrich Kosata, ICT Prague, Czech Republic