entropy
noun
James R. NewmanJohn Simon
Did you know?
With its Greek prefix en-, meaning "within", and the trop- root here meaning "change", entropy basically means "change within (a closed system)". The closed system we usually think of when speaking of entropy (especially if we're not physicists) is the entire universe. But entropy applies to closed systems of any size. Entropy is seen when the ice in a glass of water in a warm room melts—that is, as the temperature of everything in the room evens out. In a slightly different type of entropy, a drop of food coloring in that glass of water soon spreads out evenly. However, when a nonphysicist uses the word, he or she is usually trying to describe a large-scale collapse.
Examples of entropy in a Sentence
Carly Thomas, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 July 2024
One is that, except for a few edge cases, semantic entropy caught more false answers than any other methods.
—Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 20 June 2024
Farquhar has some ideas for how semantic entropy could begin reducing hallucinations in leading chatbots.
—Billy Perrigo, TIME, 19 June 2024
One bulwark of information theory is the notion of entropy.
—IEEE Spectrum, 23 Aug. 2021
See all Example Sentences for entropy 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'entropy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near entropy
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“Entropy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entropy. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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entropy
noun
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