entropy.

1. A measure of the possible internal arrangements of a physical system, often associated with how widely its energy is dispersed.

2. A measure of how unpredictable a source of information is.

3. A gradual tendency toward disorder or loss of organization.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• increase in entropy
• entropy of a system

On the page

The engineer checked the change in entropy across the heat exchanger.

Usage notes

Primary category: sci-fi. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.