vortex
Americannoun
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a whirling mass of water, especially one in which a force of suction operates, as a whirlpool.
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a whirling mass of air, especially one in the form of a visible column or spiral, as a tornado.
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a whirling mass of fire, flame, etc.
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a state of affairs likened to a whirlpool for violent activity, irresistible force, etc.
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something regarded as drawing into its powerful current everything that surrounds it.
the vortex of war.
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(in Cartesian philosophy) a rapid rotatory movement of cosmic matter about a center, regarded as accounting for the origin or phenomena of bodies or systems of bodies in space.
noun
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a whirling mass or rotary motion in a liquid, gas, flame, etc, such as the spiralling movement of water around a whirlpool
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any activity, situation, or way of life regarded as irresistibly engulfing
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A circular, spiral, or helical motion in a fluid (such as a gas) or the fluid in such a motion. A vortex often forms around areas of low pressure and attracts the fluid (and the objects moving within it) toward its center. Tornados are examples of vortexes; vortexes that form around flying objects are a source of turbulence and drag.
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See also eddy
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of vortex
First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin, variant of vertex vertex
Explanation
Think vortex and picture a tornado or whirlpool — swirling around, causing destruction. If you picture a whirlpool spinning and draining like water out of a bathtub, you'll get a pretty good impression of what a vortex looks like. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz found out first-hand the meaning of vortex as she and her house whirled around in the funnel cloud of a tornado. In a figurative sense, vortex can be used to talk about something that seems like it is whirling out of control, all consuming, or chaotic. This may include exam week, your relationships, or your life in general.
Vocabulary lists containing vortex
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Even knowing what was happening as the campaign went on, I found it difficult not to get sucked into the vortex.
From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2026
The BuzzMeter panel long advocated for Rhea Seehorn to win for her performance as the sane, professional Kim Wexler, in danger of being dragged into the main character’s vortex in “Better Call Saul.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 21, 2026
The noise - lasting and deafening - rose up and swirled around like a typhoon, gathering up everybody in its vicinity, delirious Hearts folk thrilled to be sucked into the vortex.
From BBC ● May 4, 2026
The Criterion Channel can be a vortex as inescapable as any Ferdinand Magellan encountered during his expedition that first circled the globe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
I begrudgingly rise from my marshmallow chair and dart around the room, pulling comic books and toiletries into my suitcase like a speed-packing vortex.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Her drawings, which come in sets of two or three near-identical shapes, have "a beautiful intricacy to them" and "look like swirling vortexes", he said.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2025
Its three suns move and align in such a way as to create regular but random apocalyptic events, from infernal heat to sudden ice ages to gravitational vortexes, that destroy the civilization again and again.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2024
Their findings revealed that swimmers can utilize water flow and vortexes more effectively as their speed increases.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2024
Mobulas are known to create vortex formations when feeding or resting, but this is the first time vortexes have been reported in a mating context.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 20, 2023
Little vortexes of dust spiral around the block as I step down from the trailer with my parents.
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
In this phase, the magnetic directions of individual atoms, called magnetic moments, organize into swirling structures known as vortices.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026
"High-power optical vortices are not only fascinating from a fundamental perspective but also hold the potential to transform applications from precision manufacturing to high-resolution imaging," adds Professor Goëry Genty from Tampere University.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 24, 2025
"You want to design a filter such that you're in the regime where you generate vortices," Hosoi says.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
The ray is able to swim at just the right speed that water, streaming into its mouth, can form vortices between the grooved plates.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
Adam’s irises were light blue with dark radial lines leading into the vortices of his pupils.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
