matrix means A simulated reality to which many humans are connected. In some works created by sentient machines to subdue humans. It carries an Arena rating of 1486, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, matrix ranks #1,433 of 17,052 for Most Incisive Words, #2,160 of 17,052 for Most Malleable Words, #2,440 of 17,052 for Most Storied Words, #2,784 of 17,052 for Most Sublime Words.
matrix is pronounced /ˈmeɪ.tɹɪks/.
Why “matrix” is a great word
A simulated reality, often one created by machines to control humans, deriving from the Latin for "womb" or "source." From the Latin mātrix ("womb, breeding female, source"), via Old French matrice; the specific sense of a simulated reality was popularized by the 1999 film The Matrix, which drew from the 1984 novel Neuromancer by William Gibson. Unlike an "array," a systematic arrangement, or a "template," a static guide, a matrix is a living, deceptive container—both a generative source and a perfect prison. It is the warm amniotic dark, the sterile glow of code, and the perfectly rendered dream from which one must painfully awaken—the profound paradox where the ultimate trap and the origin of all life are, linguistically, the same place.
Etymology
From the 1984 novel Neuromancer and popularized in the 1999 movie The Matrix. See matrix for further etymology.
name
- A simulated reality to which many humans are connected. In some works created by sentient machines to subdue humans.
- A social institution or apparatus perceived as largely deceptive or illusory.e.g.“They claimed that Paraguay’s accommodating immigration laws have proved attractive to Germans who want to “escape the matrix” and flee the “deep state and one world order”.”
noun
- The cavity or mold in which anything is formed.
- The womb.e.g.“upon conception the inward orifice of the matrix exactly closeth, so that it commonly admitteth nothing after […]”
- The metaphorical place where something is made, formed, or given birth.
- The material or tissue in which more specialized structures are embedded.
- An extracellular matrix, the material or tissue between the cells of animals or plants.
- Part of the mitochondrion.
- The medium in which bacteria are cultured.
- A table of data.
- A rectangular arrangement of numbers or terms having various uses such as transforming coordinates in geometry, solving systems of linear equations in linear algebra and representing graphs in graph theory.e.g.“Theorem (7.5.2) then says that every positive semidefinite matrix is a convex combination of matrices that lie on extreme rays.”
- A two-dimensional array.
- A grid-like arrangement of electronic components, especially one intended for information coding, decoding or storage.e.g.“Any type of core or diode matrix used to derive the decoding of these codes would amount to a rather large volume of terminals for just the 17,500 terminals alone.”
- A geological matrix.
- The sediment surrounding and including the artifacts, features, and other materials at a site.
- The environment from which a given sample is taken.
- In hot metal typesetting, a mold for casting a letter.
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