vortical

[ vawr-ti-kuhl ]

adjective

1. of or relating to a vortex.
2. suggesting or resembling a vortex.
3. moving in a vortex.

Other Words From

• vorti·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of vortical¹

1645–55; < Latin vortic- (stem of vortex vortex ) + -al ¹

Example Sentences

“A demented and seductive vortical tension was building in the community. The jitters were setting in,” she writes.

From The New Yorker

The tallest peak in Indonesia, Tambora exploded in April 1815, consuming whole villages in “a vortical hell of flames, ash, boiling magma and hurricane-strength winds.”

From Washington Post

But if the current of their conversation had been vortical and crowded, the outcome was perfectly clear.

From Project Gutenberg

This return will then take the form of violent storms of wind, usually of a cyclonic nature, and affording direct evidence of the tendency of the air masses to pursue vortical paths in their movement towards lower levels.

From Project Gutenberg

On the contrary, they may and do move both towards the poles and downwards by circuitous and even vortical paths.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• whirling