chaos

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Related to chaos: Chaos theory

cha·os

(kā′ŏs′)

1. A condition or place of great disorder or confusion.

2. A disorderly mass; a jumble: The desk was a chaos of papers and unopened letters.

3. often Chaos The disordered state of unformed matter and infinite space supposed in some cosmogonic views to have existed before the ordered universe.

4. Chaos theory.

5. Mathematics A dynamical system that has a sensitive dependence on its initial conditions.

6. Obsolete An abyss; a chasm.

[Middle English, formless primordial space, from Latin, from Greek khaos.]

cha·ot′ic (-ŏt′ĭk) adj.

cha·ot′i·cal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

chaos

(ˈkeɪɒs)

1. complete disorder; utter confusion

2. (Classical Myth & Legend) (usually capital) the disordered formless matter supposed to have existed before the ordered universe

3. an obsolete word for abyss

[C15: from Latin, from Greek khaos; compare chasm, yawn]

chaotic adj

chaˈotically adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cha•os

(ˈkeɪ ɒs)

n.

1. a state of utter confusion.

2. any disorderly mass.

3. the infinity of space or formless matter supposed to have preceded the creation of the universe.

4. Physics, Math.

a. the nonlinear, deterministic behavior of certain systems, as the appearance of strange attractors or fractal structure in graphical representations of a system's evolution.

b. the discipline that studies such behavior.

5. Obs. a chasm or abyss.

[1400–50; late Middle English < Latin < Greek; akin to chasm]

cha·os

(kā′ŏs′)

Mathematics

A system, such as the weather, that develops from a set of often simple initial conditions but behaves very differently if the initial conditions are changed even slightly. Chaotic systems often appear random and unpredictable, but in fact have regular patterns that are repeated at any scale of observation. See more at fractal.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Chaos

any confused or disorderly collection or state of things; a conglomeration of parts or elements without order or connexion. See also clutter, confusion.

Examples: chaos of accidental knowledge; of foul disorders, 1579; of green and grey mists, 1878; of laws and regulations, 1781.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	chaos - a state of extreme confusion and disorder bedlam, pandemonium, topsy-turvydom, topsy-turvyness confusion - disorder resulting from a failure to behave predictably; "the army retreated in confusion" balagan - a word for chaos or fiasco borrowed from modern Hebrew (where it is a loan word from Russian); "it was utter and complete balagan!"
	2.	chaos - the formless and disordered state of matter before the creation of the cosmos physical phenomenon - a natural phenomenon involving the physical properties of matter and energy
	3.	Chaos - (Greek mythology) the most ancient of gods; the personification of the infinity of space preceding creation of the universe Greek mythology - the mythology of the ancient Greeks
	4.	chaos - (physics) a dynamical system that is extremely sensitive to its initial conditions natural philosophy, physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics" dynamical system - (physics) a phase space together with a transformation of that space

chaos

noun disorder, confusion, mayhem, anarchy, lawlessness, pandemonium, entropy, bedlam, tumult, disorganization The country appears to be sliding towards chaos.
organization, neatness, tidiness, orderliness

Quotations
"Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds" [George Santayana Dominations and Powers]
"Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit" [Henry Brooks Adams The Education of Henry Adams]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

chaos

noun

A lack of order or regular arrangement:

clutter, confusedness, confusion, derangement, disarrangement, disarray, disorder, disorderedness, disorderliness, disorganization, jumble, mess, mix-up, muddle, muss, scramble, topsy-turviness, tumble.

Slang: snafu.

Translations

خَواء، فَوْضى، خَرابفوضى فَوْضَى

chaos

kaosvirvar

Chaos Durcheinander

χάος

caos

kaaossekasortoepäjärjestys

chaos désordre

kaos

káosz

kekacauan

kaós, óreiîa

caos caotico marasma viluppo baraonda

カオス大混乱

혼돈

chaotiškaichaotiškasnetvarka

haoss

haos

chaos

kaos

ความสับสน

kargaşa kaos

sự hỗn loạn

混乱

chaos

[ˈkeiɒs]

A. N → caos m
to be in chaos [house] → estar en completo desorden; [country] → estar en el caos
see organized

B. CPD chaos theory N → teoría f del caos

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

chaos

[ˈkeɪɒs] n → chaos mchaos theory n → théorie f du chaos

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

chaos

n → Chaos nt, → Durcheinander nt; complete chaos → ein totales Durcheinander

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

chaos

[ˈkeɪɒs] n → caos m
to be in chaos → essere nel caos

chaos

(ˈkeios) noun

complete disorder or confusion. The place was in utter chaos after the burglary.

chaˈotic (-tik) adjective

chaˈotically adverb

chaos

→ فَوْضَى chaos kaos Chaos χάος caos kaaos chaos kaos caos 大混乱 혼돈 chaos kaos zamieszanie caos хаос kaos ความสับสน kargaşa sự hỗn loạn 混乱

cha·os

n. caos, desorden.

References in classic literature ?

One single man has made of all of those things a chaos more confused, more shapeless, more terrible than the chaos which existed before the creation of the world.

View in context

I gather the larkspur Over the hillside, Blown mid the chaos Of boulder and bellbine; Hating the tyrant Who made me an outcast, Who of his leisure Now spares me no moment: Drinking the mountain spring, Shading at noon-day Under the cypress My limbs from the sun glare.

View in context

tho' that long dream were of hopeless sorrow,'Twere better than the dull reality Of waking life to him whose heart shall be, And hath been ever, on the chilly earth, A chaos of deep passion from his birth !

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It is chaos or the United States of the World for mankind.

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And if he does not find means he will contrive destruction and chaos, will contrive sufferings of all sorts, only to gain his point!

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They had closed their eyes in a dense and tropical darkness - so thick indeed that they had lit a fire, notwithstanding the stifling heat, to remove that vague feeling of oppression which chaos so complete seemed to bring with it.

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Either to disinthrone the King of Heav'n We warr, if warr be best, or to regain Our own right lost: him to unthrone we then May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yeild To fickle Chance, and CHAOS judge the strife: The former vain to hope argues as vain The latter: for what place can be for us Within Heav'ns bound, unless Heav'ns Lord supream We overpower?

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She had no wish to see any one to-night; it seemed to her that the immense riddle was answered; the problem had been solved; she held in her hands for one brief moment the globe which we spend our lives in trying to shape, round, whole, and entire from the confusion of chaos. To see Mary was to risk the destruction of this globe.

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There's Madame Ratignolle; because she keeps up her music, she doesn't let everything else go to chaos. And she's more of a musician than you are a painter."

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Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all; amid confusion and chaos, your array may be without head or tail, yet it will be proof against defeat.

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But out of that chaos your belief in your own prudence and sagacity reasserts itself.

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First he breathed light, upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light, into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light, into the face of his chosen.