vortex

What it means

1. A whirlwind, whirlpool, or similarly moving matter in the form of a spiral or column.

   An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.

   2013 March 28, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 01 May 2013, page 114

2. figurativelyAnything that involves constant violent or chaotic activity around some centre.

   Montreal in the summer is a vortex of decadent food, 24-ounce cocktails and carefree people. We reveled in it, danced, swam in fountains.

   2014 May 30, Will Butler, “The Mark of Cane”, in The New York Times Magazine

   1 more example

   It’s hard to imagine that there is any major American clothing brand that does not have a store in the consumer vortex that is East Hampton; […]

   2004 August 30, Rebecca Mead, “Flip-Flop Emergency”, in The New Yorker, page 38

3. figurativelyAnything that inevitably draws surrounding things into its current.

   In early youth, the living drama acted around me, drew my heart and soul into its vortex.

   1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 17

In a sentence

An extreme version of vorticity is a vortex. The vortex is a spinning, cyclonic mass of fluid, which can be observed in the rotation of water going down a drain, as well as in smoke rings, tornados and hurricanes.

2013 March 28, Frank Fish, George Lauder, “Not Just Going with the Flow”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 01 May 2013, page 114

Where it comes from

1. Latinvortex
2. Englishvortex

Learned borrowing from Latin vortex. Doublet of vertex.