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Chaos vs Complexity - What's the difference?

chaos | complexity |

As nouns the difference between chaos and complexity

is that chaos is a vast chasm or abyss while complexity is the state of being complex; intricacy; entanglement.

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

    Related terms

    * (l) * (l)

    See also

    * entropy * discord * capricious ----

    complexity

    English

    Noun

  • (uncountable) The state of being complex; intricacy; entanglement.
  • (countable) That which is and renders complex; intricacy; complication.

    • Synonyms

    * complicacy

    Antonyms

    * simplicity

    Derived terms

    * complexity theory * space complexity * time complexity * Kolmogorov complexity

    Related terms

    * complexus * complicate