- a whirling mass or rotary motion in a liquid, gas, flame, etc, such as the spiralling movement of water around a whirlpool
- any activity, situation, or way of life regarded as irresistibly engulfing
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
vor•tex /ˈvɔrtɛks/USA pronunciation
n. [countable], pl. -tex•es, -ti•ces
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- /-təˌsiz/USA pronunciation .
- Hydraulics, Physicsa whirling mass of water or air, esp. one in which a sucking force operates to pull things in, as a whirlpool or a tornado.
- any situation or state of affairs thought to be like a whirlpool:the vortex of war.
vor•tex
(vôr′teks),USA pronunciation n., pl. -tex•es, -ti•ces
-
(-tə sēz′).USA pronunciation
- Hydraulics, Physicsa whirling mass of water, esp. one in which a force of suction operates, as a whirlpool.
- Physics, Meteorologya whirling mass of air, esp. one in the form of a visible column or spiral, as a tornado.
- a whirling mass of fire, flame, etc.
- a state of affairs likened to a whirlpool for violent activity, irresistible force, etc.
- something regarded as drawing into its powerful current everything that surrounds it:the vortex of war.
- Philosophy(in Cartesian philosophy) a rapid rotatory movement of cosmic matter about a center, regarded as accounting for the origin or phenomena of bodies or systems of bodies in space.
- Latin, variant of vertex vertex
- 1645–55
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
vortex /ˈvɔːtɛks/ n ( pl -texes, -tices /-tɪˌsiːz/)
'vortex' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):