amorphous

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

• IPA^(key): /əˈmɔ(ɹ)fəs/, /eɪˈmɔ(ɹ)fəs/

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amorphous (comparative more amorphous, superlative most amorphous)

1. 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.

2. (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, →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.

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

• amorphous solid on Wikipedia.Wikipedia