chaos

Meaning

Noun

• The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony.
• Any state of disorder; a confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration.
• A behaviour of iterative non-linear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time.
• One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to law.
• A vast chasm or abyss.
• A given medium; a space in which something exists or lives; an environment.

Related

Opposite words

• cosmos
• order

Origin

• Borrowed from Ancient Greek χάος.
• 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 from the 1960s.