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Brownian motion

noun

Etymology

Named after Scottish botanist Robert Brown (1773–1858), who investigated the movement of pollen suspended in water.

Definitions

  1. Random motion of particles suspended in a fluid, arising from those particles being…

    Random motion of particles suspended in a fluid, arising from those particles being struck by individual molecules of the fluid.

    • To summarize, the world is filled with instances of indeterministic Brownian motion, with various biological phenomena having evolved to optimally exploit versions of this randomness. Are we talking free will here?

  2. A state of chaos or disarray.

    • The sun was hot on my legs. I moved out of the doorway and stood in the room with my thoughts in Brownian motion.
    • That's pretty much what I'm doing here today—asking you, right now, to sit down, take a deep breath, and stop. Try to see a future beyond that Brownian motion of your daily affairs.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Brownian motion. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA