chaos
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowing from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos, “vast chasm, void”).
In Early Modern English used in the sense of the original Greek word. In the meaning primordial matter from the 16th century. Figurative usage in the sense "confusion, disorder" from the 17th century. The technical sense in mathematics and science dates to the 1960s.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
chaos (usually uncountable, plural chaoses)
- (obsolete) A vast chasm or abyss.
- The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony
- Any state of disorder, any confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration.
- Disorder conveys chaos and makes one feel that no one is in charge. ― Max Roscoe, "How Your City Is Killing You With Ugliness"
-
1977, Irwin Edman, Adam, the Baby, and the Man from Mars, page 54:
- or out of these chaoses order may be made, out of this ferment a clear wine of life. There are chaoses that have gone too far for retrieval
- (obsolete, rare) A given medium; a space in which something exists or lives; an environment.
- 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069:, II.ii.3:
- What is the centre of the earth? is it pure element only, as Aristotle decrees, inhabited (as Paracelsus thinks) with creatures whose chaos is the earth: or with fairies, as the woods and waters (according to him) are with nymphs, or as the air with spirits?
- 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069:, II.ii.3:
- (mathematics) Behaviour of iterative non-linear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time.
- (fantasy) One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to law.
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from chaos
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
in classical cosmogony
state of disorder
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mathematics
See also[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).
Pronunciation[edit]
-
Audio (file)
Noun[edit]
chaos m (uncountable)
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowing from Latin chaos, from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
chaos m (uncountable)
External links[edit]
- “chaos” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Latin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowing from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos).
Noun[edit]
chaos n (genitive chaī); second declension
Declension[edit]
Second declension, Greek type.
Case | Singular |
---|---|
nominative | chaos |
genitive | chaī |
dative | chaō |
accusative | chaos |
ablative | chaō |
vocative | chaos |
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]
- chaos in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- chaos in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia[1]
- chaos in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- chaos in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
Polish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Ancient Greek χάος (kháos, “vast chasm, void”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
chaos m inan
Declension[edit]
declension of chaos
Derived terms[edit]
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with rare senses
- en:Mathematics
- en:Fantasy
- Dutch terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch uncountable nouns
- French terms borrowed from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms derived from Ancient Greek
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French uncountable nouns
- Latin terms borrowed from Ancient Greek
- Latin terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin neuter nouns
- Latin second declension nouns
- Latin neuter nouns in the second declension
- Latin singularia tantum
- Polish terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Polish terms with audio links
- Polish lemmas
- Polish nouns
- Polish masculine nouns