entropic

American  

[en-troh-pik, -trop-ik] / ɛnˈtroʊ pɪk, -ˈtrɒp ɪk /

adjective

1. Thermodynamics. of or relating to entropy, a measure of the thermal energy unavailable for work, or of the constituent randomness, in a process or system.

   At very small scales, the entropic effects become significant, so a more intricate analysis, incorporating thermal fluctuations, is needed in the study of biopolymers.

2. (in data transmission and information theory) of or relating to entropy, a measure of the information lost in a transmitted signal or message.

   In an oral culture, only those thoughts that can be formulated into sayings, proverbs, and other dicta are likely to survive the entropic effects of oral transmission.

3. (in cosmology) relating to or characterized by entropy, a hypothetical tendency for the universe to attain a state of maximum homogeneity.

   As entropy grows, the system loses dynamism, to the point that a perfectly entropic universe would be a smooth and inert field of matter.

4. chaotic; without form or order.

   The opening poem presents an entropic clashing of voice and breath.

   Nature is inherently wild and entropic, and yet we persist in expending energy to force it into submission.

5. relating to or characterized by a doctrine of inevitable social decline and degeneration.

   Response to the rioting was harsh, shoring up state control and warding off the outbreak of further social unrest, that is, the entropic degradation of the system.

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Other Word Forms

• entropically adverb

Etymology

Origin of entropic

entrop(y) ( def. ) + -ic

Example Sentences

“Our very survival,” Ms. Goldstein writes, “demands that we are constantly required to pit ourselves against the laws of probability and resist the entropic transformation from within.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026

On the microscopic scale, entropic effects play a crucial role for particle movement.

From Science Daily • Oct. 12, 2023

Where every chapter introduces a new cluster of ideas and cast of characters, each richly sketched, it makes for a kaleidoscopic, almost entropic reading experience.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2021

It is ground zero for many of his working-class voters and a key focus of the president’s entropic economic policies.

From Salon • Aug. 4, 2018

He lived alone in this deteriorating, blind building of a thousand uninhabited apartments, which like all its counterparts, fell, day by day, into greater entropic ruin.

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick