Pronunciations (2)
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/ˈvɔɹtɛks/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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ˈvɔɹtɛks
Pronunciation notes
- US
Noun
A whirlwind, whirlpool, or similarly moving matter in the form of a spiral or column.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.
Anything that involves constant violent or chaotic activity around some centre.
Usage- Figurative
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It’s hard to imagine that there is any major American clothing brand that does not have a store in the consumer vortex that is East Hampton; […]
Montreal in the summer is a vortex of decadent food, 24-ounce cocktails and carefree people. We reveled in it, danced, swam in fountains.
Anything that inevitably draws surrounding things into its current.
Usage- Figurative
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In early youth, the living drama acted around me, drew my heart and soul into its vortex.
A supposed collection of particles of very subtle matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or planet; part of a Cartesian theory accounting for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it.
Usage- Historical
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More examples (1)
Novv ſhou'd it happen that any of theſe Sun-like Bodies in the Centers of the ſeveral Vortices ſhou'd be ſo incruſtated and vveaken'd, as to be carried about in the Vortex of the true Sun, if it vvere of leſs Solidity, or leſs capable of Motion than the Globules, tovvards the extremity of the Solar Vortex, then it vvou'd deſcend tovvard the Sun, till it met vvith Globules of the ſame Solidity, and capable of the ſame degree of Motion vvith it, and being fixt there, it vvou'd for ever be carried about by the Motion of the Vortex, vvithout either approaching to, or receding from the Sun, and ſo become a Planet.
Any of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera.
A group of vultures or buzzards.
Usage- collective
- Examples
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But when we reach the vortex of vultures, there he is.
a vortex of vultures converges from all directions to compete viciously at the carcass
More examples (2)
On Pincushion, the slow vortex of vultures guides me back to earlier vultures circling a blown-out tire on Interstate 5 somewhere north of Eugene, Oregon.
Bobby looked up, and once again noticed a vortex of buzzards circling somewhere behind Pistol Creek Camp.
Verb
To mix using a vortex mixer.
Noun
the shape of something rotating rapidly
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a powerful circular current of water (usually the result of conflicting tides)