entropy

/ˈɛntrəpi/
noun
  1. A measure of the disorder or randomness in a system, especially in physics and chemistry.
    • The second law of thermodynamics says that the entropy of an isolated system always increases.
    • Scientists measure entropy to understand how energy spreads out in a system.
    • As the ice melted, the entropy of the water molecules increased.
  2. A gradual decline into disorder or chaos; lack of order or predictability.
    • Social entropy can occur when communities stop communicating with each other.
    • Without regular cleaning, the house slowly falls into entropy.
    • The company's lack of leadership led to organizational entropy.
  3. In information theory, a measure of the uncertainty or randomness in a set of data.
    • The password's entropy was too low, making it easy to guess.
    • Encryption algorithms aim to increase the entropy of the ciphertext.
    • High entropy in a data file means it contains a lot of unpredictable information.
Antonyms
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