entropy

Definitions


[ˈɛntrəpi], (Noun)

Definitions:
- a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system
(e.g: the second law of thermodynamics says that entropy always increases with time)

- lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder
(e.g: a marketplace where entropy reigns supreme)

- (in information theory) a logarithmic measure of the rate of transfer of information in a particular message or language


Phrases:

Origin:
mid 19th century: from en- ‘inside’ + Greek tropē ‘transformation’




definition by Oxford Dictionaries