amorphous

English

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amorphous

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

amorphous (comparative more amorphous, superlative most amorphous)

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.
(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.
(by extension) Lacking organization or unity.
(physics) In the non-crystalline solid state of a typically crystalline solid.
(set theory, of a set) Infinite and not the disjoint union of two infinite subsets.

Derived terms

Translations

lacking a definite form or clear shape

Basque: eitegabe
Bulgarian: безформен (bg) (bezformen)
Catalan: amorf
Czech: beztvarý (cs), amorfní (cs)
Dutch: vormeloos (nl), amorf (nl)
Esperanto: senforma
German: amorph (de), formlos (de), gestaltlos (de)
Greek: άμορφος (el) (ámorfos)
Ancient: ἄμορφος (ámorphos)
Italian: amorfo (it)
Lithuanian: beformis
Norwegian:
Bokmål: amorf

Nynorsk: amorf
Ottoman Turkish: شكلسز (şekilsiz)
Polish: amorficzny (pl), bezkształtny (pl), bezpostaciowy (pl)
Portuguese: amorfo (pt)
Russian: амо́рфный (ru) (amórfnyj), бесфо́рменный (ru) (besfórmennyj)
Serbo-Croatian: amorfan (sh)
Slovene: brezobličen
Spanish: amorfo (es)
Swedish: amorf (sv), formlös (sv)
Turkish: şekilsiz (tr)

being without definite character or nature

Catalan: amorf
Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} amorfa
German: amorph (de)
Greek: άμορφος (el) (ámorfos)
Italian: amorfo (it)
Polish: bezkształtny (pl)
Portuguese: amorfo (pt)
Serbo-Croatian: amorfan (sh)
Spanish: amorfo (es)
Swedish: amorf (sv)

lacking organization or unity

Catalan: amorf
Dutch: ongestructureerd (nl)
Greek: αλλοπρόσαλλος (el) (alloprósallos)
Korean: 조직이 없는 (jojigi eomneun)
Swedish: amorf (sv), ostrukturerad

physics: in the non-crystalline state of solid

Bulgarian: аморфен (bg) (amorfen)
Catalan: amorf
Danish: amorf
Dutch: amorf (nl)
Esperanto: amorfa
Faroese: skapleysur
Finnish: amorfinen (fi)
French: amorphe (fr)
German: amorph (de)
Greek: άμορφος (el) (ámorfos)
Greenlandic: aaliangersimasumik iluseqanngitsoq
Italian: amorfo (it)
Japanese: アモルファス (ja) (amorufasu)
Latvian: amorfs (lv)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: amorf

Nynorsk: amorf
Portuguese: amorfo (pt)
Russian: амо́рфный (ru) (amórfnyj)
Spanish: amorfo (es)
Swedish: amorf (sv), icke-kristallin

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} amorphe (fr)