Wiktionary

amorphous

English

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek ἄμορφος (ámorphos, “without form, shapeless, deformed”) (itself from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + μορφή (morphḗ, “form”) +‎ -ous. By surface analysis, a- +‎ -morphous.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /əˈmɔ(ɹ)fəs/, /eɪˈmɔ(ɹ)fəs/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

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amorphous (comparative more amorphous, superlative most amorphous)

  1. Lacking a definite form or clear shape.
    Synonyms: formless, shapeless; see also Thesaurus:amorphous
    The enormous pile of spaghetti landed on the floor in an amorphous heap.
  2. (by extension) Being without definite character or nature.
    • 1920 November 9, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 1, in Women in Love, New York, N.Y.: Privately printed [by Thomas Seltzer] for subscribers only, →OCLC:
      Gudrun, new from her life in Chelsea and Sussex, shrank cruelly from this amorphous ugliness of a small colliery town in the Midlands. Yet forward she went, through the whole sordid gamut of pettiness, the long amorphous, gritty street.
    • 2023 September 27, John Kampfner, “German politics has a built-in firewall against the far right. It’s beginning to crack”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:
      And people talking all the time about the AfD is just what it wants: to foster the impression that the others are ganging up against it. The “authentic” voice of “real people” v the amorphous elite.
  3. (by extension) Lacking organization or unity.
  4. (physics) In the non-crystalline solid state of a typically crystalline solid.
  5. (set theory, of a set) Infinite and not the disjoint union of two infinite subsets.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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