Anarchy, chaos and lawlessness all denote in common absence, suspension, breakdown, or widespread defiance of government, law, and order.
Anarchy is the total absence or suspension of government.
- by the adoption of the Constitution our country passed from weakness to strength, from anarchy to order, from death to life
—Muzzey
Chaos is the utter negation of order.
- a process calculated to reduce the orderly life of our complicated societies to chaos
—Huxley
Lawlessness signifies a prevalent or habitual disregard of law and order rather than their absence or suspension.
- the traditional lawlessness of the frontier community
When anarchy and lawlessness (or their adjectives) are used of actions rather than of a state of things, there is often little distinction of meaning.
- the hydrogen atom was not conforming to the canons of the classical music of physics, and yet it was not anarchic in the least, for . . . it was flawlessly obeying the laws of a different music
—Darrow - illusion is not lawless. It is a world apart, if you please, but within it are its own necessities, which exact inexorable adherence to their mandates
—Lowes