BharatNotes Entropy
nounUsage in a UPSC answer
Left unchecked, institutional entropy sets in: regulatory bodies ossify, files gather dust, and accountability dissipates, so that periodic administrative reform is less a luxury than a structural necessity to arrest the slide of governance into inertia and disorder.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
entropic (adj), entropically (adv), entropies (n pl), negentropy (n)
Root
German Entropie, coined 1865 by Clausius; Greek tropē = transformation; modelled on Energie
Etymology
From German Entropie, coined in 1865 by Rudolf Clausius from Ancient Greek tropē (transformation), modelled on Energie (energy).
Memory Hook
EN + TROPE (a turning): energy 'turning in' on itself and dispersing -- think of a tidy room inevitably 'turning into' chaos. The trop- root (as in 'tropic', a turning point) signals transformation toward disorder.
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