Disorder
refers to the concept of an obstructed system or arrangement, either within the
realm of the given natural world, or the human-constructed social world. It is
an irregular composition or a non-intelligible pattern. Alternatively, it can be
thought as the negation or absence of order, which would result in the presence
of chaos. As a verb, it becomes synonymous with destroy, disturb and violate. It
can also be defined more literally as the condition in which things are not
situated in their expected places. The noun, disorder is synonymous with
broken, a state of disarray, or confusion. The term’s first appearance in English
was in the 15th century. It is a modification of its forerunners,
which are the 14th century word disordeiner, O.Fr., and disordinare,
M.L., both meaning throw into disorder. The root word which disorder derives
from is hordere, mE, a 12th century verb which translates to order, arrange
or regulate.
In its
broadest sense, the verb, disorder, can be used sparingly to talk about the act
of creating a slight offset, or imbalance within a perfect composition, such as
the disordering of an organized pile of papers. The word in its adjective form
can be used with a similar effect to describe subjects: a disordered life is
one which comprises of decadent excessiveness in terms of possessions and an
obstructed view of priorities. In this usage, the word means morally irregular,
or corrupt. The word disorder can be used to describe both tangible and
intangible instances. The noun, disorder, is often used terminologically for medical
diagnosis of physical and mental behaviours that are out of the ordinary. Eating
disorder pertains to abnormal eating habits that involve either an insufficient
or excessive amount of food intake. In psychology, there are a myriad of
disorders which define specific abnormal states of the mind, human behaviour
and personality types. All of these types of disorders fall under broader
categories such a mental disorder, or emotional and behavioural disorder. Such disorders are generally associated with
human conditions of distress or disability, which are not considered a part of
a person’s normal development. In physics, the term disorder is used to
allocate the absence of some symmetry or correlation in any given many-particle
system. Disorder is also used terminologically for sociological concepts. Civil
disorder is termed to describe any form of disturbance in society caused by a
group of people. Results of civil disorder include riots, sabotage, and chaos
amongst the public.
Works Cited:
"disorder, v.". OED Online. September 2012.
Oxford University Press. November 21, 2012.
<http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/54860?rskey=gbTuS0&result=2#eid>
"disorder, n.". OED Online. September 2012.
Oxford University Press. November 21, 2012.
<http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/54859?rskey=DdTtmI&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid>
Wikipedia contributors, "Mental Disorder," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. November 21, 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_disorder>
Wikipedia contributors, "Eating Disorder," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. November 21, 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder>
Wikipedia contributors, "Civil Disorder," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. November 21, 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disorder>
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