Definition of "vortex" []

• A spiral motion of fluid within a limited area, especially a whirling mass of water or air that sucks everything near it toward its center. (noun)
• A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it: "As happened with so many theater actors, he was swept up in the vortex of Hollywood” ( New York Times). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "By morning she had slipped back into what she called the vortex, in which she “wrote like a thinking machine in full operation.”"
• ""It took us about two years to build this, what we call a vortex lab, and it is just starting to do some research," he said."
• "Sometimes, the pull of the vortex is so great that only time and distance can protect you."