Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cataclysmic
Explanation
Something that’s cataclysmic is violently destructive. The word often refers to natural disasters, like a cataclysmic earthquake, but cataclysmic can describe other events as well as long as they’re bad enough, like the cataclysmic failure you had making meatloaf. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tornados, landslide . . . These natural disasters are often described as cataclysmic when they cause great devastation. Cataclysmic isn't just for describing natural disasters — personal disasters can be called cataclysmic as well if you want to emphasize just how badly something turned out. If your meatloaf is just so-so, it’s not so disastrous. But if it’s so spectacularly bad that no one can eat it? That’s a cataclysmic failure.
Vocabulary lists containing cataclysmic
Break It Down: Cata
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A Monster Calls
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This Week In Culture: August 30–September 4, 2020
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Other observers warned of potentially cataclysmic consequences in court for Meta and other Silicon Valley giants.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2026
"These extinctions were driven by relatively rapid climate shifts and cataclysmic volcanic eruptions," says Dr. Scofield.
From Science Daily • Mar. 26, 2026
Perhaps he causes such extensive mayhem because he is the unintended side effect of a cataclysmic experiment.
From Salon • Mar. 20, 2026
Xfinity saves Jurassic Park from destruction by simply turning a router back on, preventing a cataclysmic security breakdown.
From Slate • Feb. 8, 2026
I can’t help it; despite warnings and ghosts and shaky boycotts and cataclysmic girl-destroying exhalations, I lie down, rest my head on Oscar’s pillow, and breathe in the faint scent of him: peppery, sunny, wonderful.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
