Main Entry: en·tro·py

Pronunciation: \ˈen-trə-pē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural en·tro·pies

Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary ²en- + Greek tropē change, literally, turn, from trepein to turn

Date: 1875

1 : a measure of the unavailable energy in a closed thermodynamic system that is also usually considered to be a measure of the system's disorder, that is a property of the system's state, and that varies directly with any reversible change in heat in the system and inversely with the temperature of the system; broadly : the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system
2 a : the degradation of the matter and energy in the universe to an ultimate state of inert uniformity b : a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder
3 : chaos, disorganization, randomness

— en·tro·pic \en-ˈtrō-pik, -ˈträ-pik\ adjective

— en·tro·pi·cal·ly \-pi-k(ə-)lē\ adverb