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Chaos vs Anarchy - What's the difference?

chaos | anarchy |

As nouns the difference between chaos and anarchy

is that chaos is a vast chasm or abyss while anarchy is the state of a society being without authorities or an authoritative governing body.

chaos

English

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (obsolete) A vast chasm or abyss.
  • The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony
  • Any state of disorder, any confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration.
  • *
  • (obsolete, rare) A given medium; a space in which something exists or lives; an environment.
  • *, II.ii.3:
  • What is the centre of the earth? is it pure element only, as Aristotle decrees, inhabited (as Paracelsus thinks) with creatures whose chaos is the earth: or with fairies, as the woods and waters (according to him) are with nymphs, or as the air with spirits?
  • (mathematics) Behaviour of iterative non-linear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time.
  • (fantasy) One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to law.
  • Synonyms

    * See

    Antonyms

    * (classical cosmogony) cosmos * (state of disorder) order

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from chaos) * chaos theory * chaotic * controlled chaos

    See also

    * entropy * discord * capricious ----

    anarchy

    Noun

  • (uncountable) The state of a society being without authorities or an authoritative governing body.
  • (uncountable) Anarchism]]; the political theory that a community is best [[organize, organized by the voluntary cooperation of individuals, rather than by a government, which is regarded as being coercive by nature.
  • (countable) A chaotic and confusing absence of any form of political authority or government.
  • Confusion in general; disorder.
  • Usage notes

    * (confusion or misunderstanding in general) Anarchists feel it is inappropriate to use anarchy to mean “a state of chaos or confusion”. However, this has historically been a common use of the word. * (English Citations of "anarchy")

    Synonyms

    * see

    Antonyms

    * (all senses) nonanarchy (rare) * (disorder) order

    Derived terms

    * anarchic * anarchical * anarchically * anarchism * anarchist * anarcho- English words suffixed with -archy