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“vortex”
vertex, vortex
vertex (VUR teks") (noun)
A point where two lines meet to form an angle; especially, the point on a triangle that is opposite to the base: "Her algebra teacher told her that the vertex of her triangle wasn't correctly calculated."
vortex (VOR teks") (noun)
A mass of spinning air, liquid, etc., that pulls things into its center; sometimes used figuratively: "The exciting tale 'A Descent into the Maelstrom', by Edgar Allan Poe, tells of a ship being pulled down into the vortex of the Maelstrom."
The teacher was caught in the vortex of controversy about the textbook for her geometry classes. There seemed to be a question about the veracity of the formula for calculating the vertex of a triangle.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group V; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. +
(page 1)
vortex
1. A whirling mass of something; especially, water or air, that draws everything near it toward its center.
2. A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.
3. A situation, or feeling, that seems to swamp or engulf everything else.
4. Etymology: from 1652, "whirlpool, eddying mass"; from Latin vortex, variant of vertex, "an eddy of water, wind", or "flame; whirlpool; whirlwind", from the Latin stem of vertere, "to turn".
2. A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it.
3. A situation, or feeling, that seems to swamp or engulf everything else.
4. Etymology: from 1652, "whirlpool, eddying mass"; from Latin vortex, variant of vertex, "an eddy of water, wind", or "flame; whirlpool; whirlwind", from the Latin stem of vertere, "to turn".
This entry is located in the following unit:
vers-, vert-, -verse, -version, -version, -versation, -versal, -versary, -vert, vort-, vors-
(page 18)