Dipole moment is defined as: "The product of the magnitude of the charge and the distance between the centers of the positive and negative charges."
Dipole moment is a vector quantity, because it has both magnitude and direction.
The tendency of an anion to get polarized by a cation is called "polarisability".
If the extent of polarization is small, then the bond is more ionic in nature, but if the extent of polarization is more, then the bond is more covalent in nature.
These will be certain amount of ionic character present in polar covalent bond because of electronegativity difference.
Applications of dipole moment:
(i) Ionic character can be calculated using the value of dipole moment.
% of ionic character =
=100* (Experimental value of dipole moment/Theoretical value of 100% ionized molecule)
(ii) Geometry of the molecule can be predicted using the dipole moment.
(iii) Dipole moment is helpful in predicting nature of the molecule. Weather it is polar or non-polar in nature.