<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>A whirling mass of water, especially one in which a force of suction operates, as a whirlpool.</li><li>A whirling mass of air, especially one in the form of a visible column or spiral, as a tornado.</li><li>A whirling mass of fire, flame, etc.</li><li>A state of affairs likened to a whirlpool for violent activity, irresistible force, etc.</li><li>Something regarded as drawing into its powerful current everything that surrounds it:<ul><li>The vortex of war.</li></ul></li><li>(In Cartesian philosophy) A rapid rotatory movement of cosmic matter about a center, regarded as accounting for the origin or phenomena of bodies or systems of bodies in space.</li></ul>