Adjacent Words

Chaos definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHAOS, n.
1. That confusion, or confused mass, in which matter is supposed to have existed, before it was separated into its different kinds and reduced to order, by the creating power of God. Rudis, indigestaque moles.
2. Any mixed mass, without due form or order; as a chaos of materials.
3. Confusion; disorder; a state in which the parts are undistinguished.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a state of extreme confusion and disorder [syn: chaos, pandemonium, bedlam, topsy-turvydom, topsy- turvyness]
2: the formless and disordered state of matter before the creation of the cosmos
3: (Greek mythology) the most ancient of gods; the personification of the infinity of space preceding creation of the universe
4: (physics) a dynamical system that is extremely sensitive to its initial conditions

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin, from Greek — more at gum Date: 15th century 1. obsolete chasm, abyss 2. a. often capitalized a state of things in which chance is supreme; especially the confused unorganized state of primordial matter before the creation of distinct forms — compare cosmos b. the inherent unpredictability in the behavior of a complex natural system (as the atmosphere, boiling water, or the beating heart) 3. a. a state of utter confusion <the blackout caused chaos throughout the city> b. a confused mass or mixture <a chaos of television antennas> • chaotic adjective • chaotically adverb

Britannica Concise

In Greek cosmology, either the primeval emptiness before things came into being or the abyss of Tartarus, the underworld. In Hesiod's Theogony, there was first Chaos, then Gaea and Eros. The offspring of Chaos were Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). Ovid gave Chaos its modern meaning: the original formless and disordered mass from which the ordered universe is created. The early church fathers applied this interpretation to the creation story in Genesis.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 utter confusion. 2 the formless matter supposed to have existed before the creation of the universe. Derivatives: chaotic adj. chaotically adv. Etymology: F or L f. Gk khaos: - otic after erotic etc.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Chaos Cha"os (k[=a]"[o^]s), n. [L. chaos chaos (in senses 1 & 2), Gr. cha`os, fr. cha`inein (root cha) to yawn, to gape, to open widely. Cf. Chasm.] 1. An empty, immeasurable space; a yawning chasm. [Archaic] Between us and there is fixed a great chaos. --Luke xvi. 26 (Rhemish Trans.). 2. The confused, unorganized condition or mass of matter before the creation of distinct and orderly forms. 3. Any confused or disordered collection or state of things; a confused mixture; confusion; disorder.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. Chaos is a state of complete disorder and confusion. The world's first transatlantic balloon race ended in chaos last night...

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Primeval matter, primordial confusion. 2. Disorder, confusion.

Moby Thesaurus

agitation, aloofness, amorphia, amorphism, amorphousness, anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, anarchy, antinomianism, astronomical unit, bedlam, befuddlement, bewilderment, blurriness, bluster, bother, botheration, brawl, broil, brouhaha, cacophony, celestial spaces, cloud, commotion, confusion, cosmic space, criminal syndicalism, daze, diffusion, discombobulation, discomfiture, discomposure, disconcertion, discontinuity, discreteness, disjunction, dislocation, disorder, disorderliness, disorganization, disorientation, dispersal, dispersion, disruption, dissolution, disturbance, ebullition, embarrassment, embroilment, empty space, entropy, ether space, fabulous formless darkness, fanaticism, ferment, flap, flummox, flurry, fluster, flutter, fog, fomentation, foofaraw, formlessness, foul-up, frenzy, fuddle, fuddlement, fume, furor, furore, fury, fuss, fuzziness, hassle, haze, haziness, hubbub, incoherence, inconsistency, indecisiveness, indefiniteness, indeterminateness, interstellar space, jumble, lawlessness, license, light-year, lynch law, maze, mess, messiness, metagalactic space, misrule, mist, mistiness, mix-up, mob law, mob rule, mobocracy, morass, muddle, muddlement, nihilism, nonadhesion, noncohesion, obscurity, ocean of emptiness, ochlocracy, orderlessness, outer space, pandemonium, parsec, passion, perplexity, perturbation, pother, pressureless space, primal chaos, pucker, racket, rage, rebellion, revolution, row, ruckus, ruffle, rumpus, scattering, screw-up, separateness, shapelessness, shuffle, snafu, space, stew, storminess, sweat, swivet, syndicalism, tempestuousness, the void, the void above, tizzy, tohubohu, tumult, tumultuousness, turbulence, turmoil, unadherence, unadhesiveness, unclearness, unruliness, unsettlement, untenacity, uproar, upset, vagueness, wildness, zeal, zealousness