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CHAOS
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(physics) a dynamical system that is extremely sensitive to its initial conditions
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("chaos" is a kind of...):
dynamical system ((physics) a phase space together with a transformation of that space)
Domain category:
natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)
Derivation:
chaotic (of or relating to a sensitive dependence on initial conditions)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(Greek mythology) the most ancient of gods; the personification of the infinity of space preceding creation of the universe
Classified under:
Instance hypernyms:
Greek deity (a deity worshipped by the ancient Greeks)
Domain category:
Greek mythology (the mythology of the ancient Greeks)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The formless and disordered state of matter before the creation of the cosmos
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural phenomena
Hypernyms ("chaos" is a kind of...):
physical phenomenon (a natural phenomenon involving the physical properties of matter and energy)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A state of extreme confusion and disorder
Synonyms:
bedlam; chaos; pandemonium; topsy-turvydom; topsy-turvyness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("chaos" is a kind of...):
confusion (disorder resulting from a failure to behave predictably)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chaos"):
balagan (a word for chaos or fiasco borrowed from modern Hebrew (where it is a loan word from Russian))
Derivation:
chaotic (completely unordered and unpredictable and confusing)
Context examples:
This phantom wore many faces, but it always had golden hair, was enveloped in a diaphanous cloud, and floated airily before his mind's eye in a pleasing chaos of roses, peacocks, white ponies, and blue ribbons.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Refrain from having a knee-jerk reaction and adding to the chaos.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
All this, and more,—a whole world of chaos and wreck,—in possibly fifteen seconds I had seen and heard and grasped.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
And really, after a day or two of confusion worse confounded, it was delightful by degrees to invoke order from the chaos ourselves had made.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The new moon of last month, October 27, was wild and wooly and may have introduced chaos in the workplace.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
Probably, if I had lately left a good home and kind parents, this would have been the hour when I should most keenly have regretted the separation; that wind would then have saddened my heart; this obscure chaos would have disturbed my peace! as it was, I derived from both a strange excitement, and reckless and feverish, I wished the wind to howl more wildly, the gloom to deepen to darkness, and the confusion to rise to clamour.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
And then my mind made its first earnest effort to comprehend what had been infused into it concerning heaven and hell; and for the first time it recoiled, baffled; and for the first time glancing behind, on each side, and before it, it saw all round an unfathomed gulf: it felt the one point where it stood—the present; all the rest was formless cloud and vacant depth; and it shuddered at the thought of tottering, and plunging amid that chaos.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Threading this chaos, I at last reached the larder; there I took possession of a cold chicken, a roll of bread, some tarts, a plate or two and a knife and fork: with this booty I made a hasty retreat.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
