ˈvȯr]ˌteks, -ȯ(ə)] noun
( plural vorti·ces ]d.əˌsēz ; also vortex·es ]ˌteksə̇z)
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin vertex, vortex whirl, whirlpool — more at vertex
1.
a. : a supposed collection of particles of very subtle matter endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which is also the axis of a sun or a planet
b. : something resembling such rapid rotary motion
look forward to a time when human beings shall have sloughed off the body and become vortices of thought — Harper's
2. : a region within a body of fluid in which the fluid elements have an angular velocity
3.
[Latin]
a.
(1) : a rapidly spiraling column of air : tornado , whirlwind ; especially : the eye of a cyclone
(2) : a rapidly spinning current of water : maelstrom , whirlpool
(3) : an eddying current in the slipstream of an airplane
b.
(1) : something that resembles a whirlwind or whirlpool : swirl , whirl
the hellish vortex of battle — Time
such a vortex of accepted invitations … makes me positively dizzy — Siegfried Sassoon
created a vortex of speculation wherever she passed — V.L.Parrington
(2) : a turbulent center
became the howling vortex of an alarmed hospital — Earle Birney
politically and commercially it has become the vortex of eastern South Jersey — American Guide Series: New Jersey
(3) : a situation or predicament into which one is irresistibly drawn
the conflict 107 drew into its vortex the best energies of a generation — American Guide Series: Virginia
was sucked into the vortex of the … scandal — G.H.Genzmer
(4) : the spiral arrangement of the muscular fibers at the apex of the heart