Standard Lemma guide

extropy

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Negentropy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the prediction that human intelligence and technology will enable life to expand in an orderly way throughout the entire universe

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: prediction, foretelling, forecasting, prognostication

History

Etymology

First coined to serve as an antonym of entropy, substituting its en- element (representing the prepositional prefix ἐν (en), en, “in” in its Ancient Greek etymon ἐντροπία (entropía), entropia, “a turning towards”) with ex- (representing the Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex), ex, “out of”, “from”); because ἐξ (ex) takes the form ἐκ (ek) when prefixed to an element beginning with τ (t), the analogical spelling is ectropy (or, alternatively, ektropy), as if after the Ancient Greek *ἐκτροπία (ektropía, “a turning out of”).