cataclysm

American  

[kat-uh-kliz-uhm] / ˈkæt əˌklɪz əm /

noun

1. any violent upheaval, especially one of a social or political nature.

2. Physical Geography. a sudden and violent physical action producing changes in the earth's surface.

3. an extensive flood; deluge.

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cataclysm British  

/ ˈkætəˌklɪzəm /

noun

1. a violent upheaval, esp of a political, military, or social nature

2. a disastrous flood; deluge

3. geology another name for catastrophe

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Related Words

See disaster.

Other Word Forms

• cataclysmic adjective
• cataclysmically adverb

Etymology

Origin of cataclysm

1625–35; < Late Latin cataclysmos (Vulgate) < Greek kataklysmós flood (akin to kataklýzein to flood), equivalent to kata- cata- + klysmós a washing

Example Sentences

The frantic warnings of a Cosmic Weatherman go unheard as winter, confoundingly, follows spring, and summer arrives as a double cataclysm of fire and floods.

From The Wall Street Journal

I called Whitney again to ask her, as I was asking others, if she knew anyone who had anticipated the subprime mortgage cataclysm, thus setting himself up in advance to make a fortune from it.

From Literature

Dyer’s father was traumatized by the austerity of growing up in England between two military cataclysms, and his daily satisfaction is bound in his ability to pinch pences.

From Los Angeles Times

We, on the other hand, will be long gone by then, shriveled by some far more minor cataclysm like the fragile little primates we are.

From Salon

For me and many others, it’s impossible to consider Dec. 18, 2021 as anything more than a cataclysm that could have and should have been prevented.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• calamity
• catastrophe
• convulsion
• debacle
• deluge
• upheaval