Vortex1. (n.) A mass of rotating water, air or fire forming a vacuum in the center; a whirlpool; an eddy; a tornado.
2. (n.) A supposed collection of particles of very subtle matter, endowed with a rapid rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a planet. Descartes attempted to account for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it, by a theory of vortices.
3. (n.) Any one of numerous species of small Turbellaria belonging to Vortex and allied genera. See Illustration in Appendix.
Thesaurus Entries
Charybdis, Maelstrom, ado, agitation, back stream, backflow, backwash, backwater, bother, botheration, brouhaha, burst, bustle, cirrus, coil, commotion, condensation trail, contrail, corkscrew, countercurrent, counterflow, counterflux, curl, curlicue, disturbance, dizzy round, ebullience, ebullition, eddy, effervescence, embroilment, evolute, exhaust, feery-fary, ferment, fermentation, fidgetiness, fit, flap, flurry, fluster, flutter, flutteriness, fume, fuss, fussiness, gulf, gurge, gyre, helix, hubbub, hullabaloo, hurly-burly, hurry, hurry-scurry, involute, kink, maelstrom, pell-mell, perturbation, pirouette, pother, rat race, reel, refluence, reflux, regurgitation, restlessness, ringlet, roll, round, ruffle, scramble, screw, scroll, spasm, spin, spiral, spout, spurt, stew, stir, stream, surge, sweat, swirl, swirling, tendril, to-do, tumult, turbulence, turmoil, turn, twirl, twist, unquiet, uproar, vapor trail, volute, volution, wake, wash, wheel, whirl, whirlpool, whirlwind, whorl, yeastiness