Word forms: plural vortexes, plural vortices (vɔːʳtɪsiːz)
1. countable noun
A vortex is a mass of wind or water that spins round so fast that it pulls objects down into its empty centre.
The polar vortex is a system of wintertime winds.
...the spiralling vortex air-flow that slows the plane.
2. countable noun [usually singular]
If you refer to a situation as a vortex, you feel that you are being forced into it without being able to prevent it.
This decision propelled her into a vortex from which there seemed no escape.
His country is being dragged closer to the vortex of violence. [+ of]
More Synonyms of vortex
vortex in British English
(ˈvɔːtɛks)
nounWord forms: plural-texes or -tices (-tɪˌsiːz)
1.
a whirling mass or rotary motion in a liquid, gas, flame, etc, such as the spiralling movement of water around a whirlpool
2.
any activity, situation, or way of life regarded as irresistibly engulfing
Derived forms
vortical (ˈvɔːtɪkəl)
adjective
vortically (ˈvortically)
adverb
Word origin
C17: from Latin: a whirlpool; variant of vertex
vortex in American English
(ˈvɔrˌtɛks)
nounWord forms: pluralˈvorˌtexes or ˈvortiˌces (ˈvɔrtəˌsiz)
1.
a whirling mass of water forming a vacuum at its center, into which anything caught in the motion is drawn; whirlpool
2.
a whirl or powerful eddy of air; whirlwind
3.
any activity, situation, or state of affairs that resembles a whirl or eddy in its rush, absorbing effect, catastrophic power, etc.
Word origin
L vortex, var. of vertex: see vertex
Synonyms of 'vortex'
whirlpool, eddy, maelstrom, Charybdis
More Synonyms of vortex
In other languages
vortex
British English: vortex NOUN
A vortex is a mass of wind or water that spins round so fast that it pulls objects down into its empty centre.
The polar vortex is a system of wintertime winds.
American English: vortex
Brazilian Portuguese: vórtex
Chinese: 漩涡
European Spanish: vórtice
French: tourbillon
German: Strudel
Italian: vortice
Japanese: 渦巻き
Korean: 소용돌이
European Portuguese: vórtex
Latin American Spanish: vórtice
All related terms of 'vortex'
vortex drag
drag arising from vortices that occur behind a body moving through a gas or liquid
vortex ring
a stable perturbation in a fluid that takes the form of a torus in which the flow rotates in the section of the torus so that the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the torus balances body forces. The best-known vortex ring is a smoke ring
polar vortex
a large mass of rotating air located in the upper-middle atmospheric layers over either of the earth's poles , typically behind a polar front
vortex depth
The vortex depth is the depth below an impeller at which its influence can still be seen in a mixed fluid.
vortex street
a regular stream of vortices or parallel streams of vortices carried downstream by the flow of a fluid over a body. These are sometimes made visible by vapour condensation as in the vortex trails from the wing tips of an aeroplane
vortex shedding
the process by which vortices formed continuously by the aerodynamic conditions associated with a solid body in a gas or air stream are carried downstream by the flow in the form of a vortex street
Kármán vortex street
a regular stream of vortices shed from a body placed in a fluid stream: investigated by K ármán who advanced a formula for the frequency of the shed vortices in terms of the stream velocity and the dimensions of the body
trailing vortex drag
drag arising from vortices that occur behind a body moving through a gas or liquid
induced drag
drag arising from vortices that occur behind a body moving through a gas or liquid
(noun)
Definition
a whirling mass or motion, such as a whirlpool or whirlwind
a vortex of encircling winds
Synonyms
whirlpool
The upturned boat was swept towards a yawning whirlpool.