# Is there an Antonym for Entropy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062 "2005-06-20T15:40:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/1 "2005-06-20T15:40:26Z")
I’m guessing there isn’t one word that can be considered THE opposite of the word entropy, but if you had to choose, what would make the most sense? Order? Complexity? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/2 "2005-06-20T15:53:15Z")
extropy ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/3 "2005-06-20T15:54:42Z")
[Negentropy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negentropy). ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/4 "2005-06-20T15:55:31Z")
Anal retentiveness. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/5 "2005-06-20T16:03:02Z")
Order? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/6 "2005-06-20T16:21:33Z")
ectropy …but I prefer _life_ . ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/7 "2005-06-20T17:06:51Z")
[Thesaurus](http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=entropy) ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/8 "2005-06-20T23:15:10Z")
disorientated? Cooling? Are there “gaps” in entrophy? Litttle pockets that allow things like us to develop? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/9 "2005-06-20T23:18:23Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > [Thesaurus](http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=entropy) Give a man a fish… ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/10 "2005-06-20T23:44:53Z")
Weird, I was just thinking about this yesterday. The best I came up with was Green Lantern. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/11 "2005-06-20T23:46:23Z")
Entropy isn’t what it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-antonym-for-entropy/309062/12 "2005-06-21T02:53:16Z")
In Algorithmic Information Theory, we call it … Information.