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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

chaos

/ˈkeɪɑs/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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The first syllable sounds like “kay.”

Use two syllables, beginning with k rather than the ch of chair. Keep the first vowel strongest and let the second vowel lead directly into s.

2 syllables · Stress on syllable 1

TRY SAYING
The sudden announcement caused chaos.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

What does chaos mean?

noun

  1. The unordered state of matter in classical accounts of cosmogony.
  2. Any state of disorder; a confused or amorphous mixture or conglomeration.
  3. A behavior of iterative nonlinear systems in which arbitrarily small variations in initial conditions become magnified over time.
More meanings (8)

noun

  1. One of the two metaphysical forces of the world in some fantasy settings, as opposed to law.
  2. Initialism of congenital high airway obstruction syndrome.
  3. (slang) Initialism of can't have anyone over syndrome.
  4. (obsolete) A vast chasm or abyss.
  5. (obsolete, rare) A given medium; a space in which something exists or lives; an environment.

proper noun

  1. In Greek mythology, the primordial state of disorder that exists before the creation of the world, or the first being or deity to exist.
  2. A planetoid and cubewano orbiting in the Kuiper belt.
  3. In the Warhammer franchise, a demonic antagonist that sends demons, monsters, warriors, and beasts to wage war on the games' setting.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈkeɪɑs/

Pronunciation used in the listening tip.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Other dictionary pronunciations

/ˈkeɪˌɑs/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

And when you come to man, what a chaos of hungers and impulses keep thrusting him through his cycle of quaint tasks!
Christopher MorleyThe Haunted BookshopProject Gutenberg ebook #172
She would spend a day getting closets and bureau drawers in order, and in five minutes he would stir them into chaos.
Jean WebsterDear EnemyProject Gutenberg ebook #238
More book examples (3)
Outside, the bowl of chaos was brimming with drift-snow and I wondered how I would manage to break and pitch camp single-handed.
Douglas, Sir MawsonThe Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914Project Gutenberg ebook #6137
The air, afflicted to pallor with the hoary multitudes that infested it, twisted and spun them eccentrically, suggesting an achromatic chaos of things.
Thomas HardyTess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure WomanProject Gutenberg ebook #110
The whole forms a chaos of netting, a labyrinth which none can pass through, unless he be endowed with wings of exceptional power.
Jean-Henri FabreThe Life of the SpiderTranslated by Alexander Teixeira de MattosProject Gutenberg ebook #1887