entropy
n. uncountablen. a measure of how messy or disorganized a system is. In science, it describes the natural tendency for things to lose order and become more random over time.
n. a thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work; more broadly, a measure of disorder or randomness in a system. Often used in information theory to quantify the uncertainty in a random variable.
The messy room showed the power of entropy.
In thermodynamics, the second law states that the total entropy of an isolated system can never decrease over time.
While the architect intended for the building to stand as a monument to order, the creeping vines and crumbling masonry served as a stark reminder of inevitable entropy.
First attested in 1867, as the translation of German Entropie, coined in 1865 by Rudolph Clausius in analogy to Energie (“energy”), replacing the root of Ancient Greek ἔργον (érgon, “work”) by Ancient Greek τροπή (tropḗ, “transformation”)).
Typically used as an uncountable noun in scientific and philosophical contexts.