Vortex
(pronounced vawr-teks) noun
Definition
1. a whirling mass of air, water, or other fluid forming a vacuum at its center and sucking in everything around it; a whirlpool.
2. any situation, activity, or condition which, like a whirlpool, tends to absorb, suck, or consume every person or thing around it; something resembling a whirlpool in its disastrous effects, destructive power, overwhelming force, etc.
Other Forms
Vortices (pronounced vawr-tuh-seez) plural
Main Example
- The current global food crisis has led to unprecedented food riots in several countries, from Haiti to Egypt to Pakistan. A confluence of several trends--most notably, the sharp rise in the cost of oil and other energy sources, the push for bio-fuels, and greater demand for food as Asians enriched by globalization switch to more meat in their diets--has pulled consumers from around the world into a vortex of spiraling food prices.
Workplace Examples
- That assignment five years ago in the corporate office was my most worthwhile ever because I was in the vortex of our company's attempts to turn around some ailing units, and succeed we did! What a great experience!
- Be warned that if you join the international marketing group, you'll be working from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, whether you like it or not. That operation is akin to a vortex and, just like all the others there, you too will be sucked into it!
Other Examples
- a colleague commenting: "What with all kinds of cell phones, PDAs, and other communication devices hardwired into our routines, the vortex of everyday life is spinning faster and faster."
- some parents at the end of their tether and barely having any time for themselves because they become so swept up in the vortex of their children's extracurricular activities, ferrying them from one sports practice or art class or music tutor to another
- analysts fearing that as the insurgency in Iraq abates, Afghanistan will become the next vortex of anti-U.S. resistance in the Islamic world
- some vortices of soaring costs: healthcare; going to the movies; a tank of gas; the war in Iraq
- the vortex of war that resulted when Germany attacked Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, quickly drawing nations from around the globe into the widest armed conflict the world has ever seen
