order and chaos
Structure versus entropy
Order and chaos name opposing principles—structure versus disorder, pattern versus randomness.
Order implies arrangement, predictability, control: The universe tends toward order.
Chaos suggests formlessness, unpredictability, entropy: The room descended into chaos.
The pairing appears in philosophy, physics, mythology, and everyday speech to describe fundamental tensions: the balance between order and chaos, order emerging from chaos.
- systemConnected parts forming whole
- anarchyDisorder from absent authority
- structureArrangement of interconnected parts
- turbulenceChaotic flow patterns
- butterfly effectSmall inputs, disproportionate results
pattern · mayhem · control · upheaval · sequence · pandemonium · symmetry · calm before storm · randomness · hierarchy · disarray · arrangement · havoc · discipline · frenzy · organize · scramble · herding cats
- oppositesopposite, opposites, antonym, antonyms, inverse
- literary devicesmetaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, alliteration
- inner conflictinner conflict, internal struggle, inner turmoil, torn feelings, emotional conflict
- Religious DualismGnosticism, Zoroastrianism, good and evil, light and darkness, Bogomilism
order and chaosstasis
State of inactivity
equilibrium · stability · monism · stillness · resolution
order and chaosstability
Resistance to displacement
calm · stillness · resolution · homeostasis · steady state
order and chaosyin and yang
Opposing yet interdependent principles
creation and destruction · logos · dharma · Tao · natural law
order, chaos, orders, ordered, ordering, orderly, orderliness, disorder, disordered