Entropy Definition
ĕntrə-pē
entropies
noun
entropies
A thermodynamic measure of the amount of energy unavailable for useful work in a system undergoing change.
Webster's New World
A measure of the degree of disorder in a substance or a system: entropy always increases and available energy diminishes in a closed system, as the universe.
Webster's New World
In information theory, a measure of the information content of a message evaluated as to its uncertainty.
Webster's New World
The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.
American Heritage
A process of degeneration marked variously by increasing degrees of uncertainty, disorder, fragmentation, chaos, etc.; specif., such a process regarded as the inevitable, terminal stage in the life of a social system or structure.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
- selective information
- information
- s
- randomness
Other Word Forms of Entropy
Noun
Singular:
entropy
Plural:
entropiesOrigin of Entropy
First attested in 1868. From German Entropie, coined in 1865 by Rudolph Clausius, from Ancient Greek ἐντροπία (entropia, “a turning towards”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + τροπή (tropē, “a turning”).
From Wiktionary
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German Entropie Greek en- in en–2 Greek tropē transformation trep- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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