- of or relating to entropy, a measure of the thermal energy unavailable for work, or of the constituent randomness, in a process or system: At very small scales, the entropic effects become significant, so a more intricate analysis, incorporating thermal fluctuations, is needed in the study of biopolymers.
- (in data transmission and information theory) of or relating to entropy, a measure of the information lost in a transmitted signal or message: In an oral culture, only those thoughts that can be formulated into sayings, proverbs, and other dicta are likely to survive the entropic effects of oral transmission.
- (in cosmology) relating to or characterized by entropy, a hypothetical tendency for the universe to attain a state of maximum homogeneity: As entropy grows, the system loses dynamism, to the point that a perfectly entropic universe would be a smooth and inert field of matter.
- chaotic; without form or order: The opening poem presents an entropic clashing of voice and breath.Nature is inherently wild and entropic, and yet we persist in expending energy to force it into submission.
- relating to or characterized by a doctrine of inevitable social decline and degeneration: Response to the rioting was harsh, shoring up state control and warding off the outbreak of further social unrest, that is, the entropic degradation of the system.
