anisotropies
|a-ni-sot-ro-py|
🇺🇸
/ˌænɪˈsɑtrəpi/
🇬🇧
/ˌænɪˈsɒtrəpi/
(anisotropy)
directional dependence
Etymology
'anisotropy' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'anisotropia', where 'an-' meant 'not', 'isos' meant 'equal', and 'tropos' meant 'turn' or 'way'.
'anisotropia' was used in New Latin/scientific contexts and entered English as 'anisotropy' in the 19th century to describe direction-dependent properties in physics and materials science.
Initially, it meant 'the condition of not being isotropic' and over time has retained that core meaning, now applied broadly to any direction-dependent variation in physical quantities.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the quality or condition of being directionally dependent; having properties that vary with direction (plural form of 'anisotropy').
Measurements showed clear anisotropies in the material's thermal conductivity.
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Noun 2
small deviations or variations from perfect uniformity in a field or distribution (commonly used in contexts such as cosmic microwave background anisotropies or temperature anisotropies).
Cosmologists analyze anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background to learn about the early universe.
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Last updated: 2025/08/13 22:06