vortex

American  

[vawr-teks] / ˈvɔr tɛks /

noun

plural

vortices, vortexes

1. a whirling mass of water, especially one in which a force of suction operates, as a whirlpool.

2. a whirling mass of air, especially one in the form of a visible column or spiral, as a tornado.

3. a whirling mass of fire, flame, etc.

4. a state of affairs likened to a whirlpool for violent activity, irresistible force, etc.

5. something regarded as drawing into its powerful current everything that surrounds it.

   the vortex of war.

6. (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.

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vortex British  

/ ˈvɔːtɛks /

noun

1. a whirling mass or rotary motion in a liquid, gas, flame, etc, such as the spiralling movement of water around a whirlpool

2. any activity, situation, or way of life regarded as irresistibly engulfing

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vortex Scientific  

/ vôr′tĕks′ /

plural

vortexes

1. 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.

2. See also eddy

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Other Word Forms

• vortical adjective
• vortically adverb

Etymology

Origin of vortex

First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin, variant of vertex vertex

Example Sentences

And this, apparently, was what Hesterfowl was inspecting, stopping every so often to peer with a beady eye into a tiny blue vortex.

From Literature

While conducting research in the Prussian state archives in Berlin in the 1990s, he chanced upon the details of a “small vortex of turbulence” in Königsberg.

From The Wall Street Journal

The magnons transfer some of their energy to the vortex core, causing it to move in a tiny circular path around its center.

From Science Daily

She just didn’t realize that she herself was going to get swept up into its vortex.

From Salon

This is just one of a host of ways environmental decisions are being sucked into the vortex that is Europe's energy debate.

From BBC

Related Words

• dust devil
• tornado
• tourbillion
• whirlwind