cataclysm

[kat-uh-kliz-uhm]

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.

cataclysm

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• cataclysmic adjective
• cataclysmically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of cataclysm¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of cataclysm¹

C17: via French from Latin, from Greek kataklusmos deluge, from katakluzein to flood, from kluzein to wash

Synonym Study

See disaster.

Example Sentences

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.

Read more on Literature

Gaza is no stranger to these destructions, he adds, recalling several conflicts prior to the cataclysm that erupted, following the devastating attack that Hamas launched on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Read more on BBC

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.

Read more on 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.

Read more on 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.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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