catastrophe

[kuh-tas-truh-fee]

noun

1. a sudden and widespread disaster.

   the catastrophe of war.

   Synonyms: calamity, misfortune
   Antonyms: triumph

2. any misfortune, mishap, or failure; fiasco.

   The play was so poor our whole evening was a catastrophe.

3. a final event or conclusion, usually an unfortunate one; a disastrous end.

   the great catastrophe of the Old South at Appomattox.

   Antonyms: triumph

4. (in a drama) the point at which the circumstances overcome the central motive, introducing the close or conclusion; dénouement.

5. Geology.,  a sudden, violent disturbance, especially of a part of the surface of the earth; cataclysm.

6. Also called catastrophe function. Mathematics.,  any of the mathematical functions that describe the discontinuities that are treated in catastrophe theory.

catastrophe

/ kəˈtæstrəfɪ, ˌkætəˈstrɒfɪk /

noun

1. a sudden, extensive, or notable disaster or misfortune

2. the denouement of a play, esp a classical tragedy

3. a final decisive event, usually causing a disastrous end

4. Also called: cataclysm. any sudden and violent change in the earth's surface caused by flooding, earthquake, or some other rapid process

Other Word Forms

• catastrophic adjective
• catastrophical adjective
• catastrophal adjective
• supercatastrophe noun
• catastrophically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of catastrophe¹

First recorded in 1570–80; from Greek katastrophḗ “an overturning,” from katastréphein “to overturn”; equivalent to cata- + strophe

Word History and Origins

Origin of catastrophe¹

C16: from Greek katastrophē, from katastrephein to overturn, from strephein to turn

Synonym Study

See disaster.

Example Sentences

His appeal to latter-day fascists is limited, given that the early success of his regime led only to servitude and then total catastrophe.

Read more on Salon

"The conflict in Sudan, the humanitarian side of this conflict, is the world's biggest humanitarian crisis today, and the world's biggest humanitarian catastrophe," Boulos told AFP in an interview in Doha.

Read more on Barron's

Attacks by a Saudi-led international coalition from early 2015 failed to dislodge them, while the conflict plunged Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, into a major humanitarian catastrophe.

Read more on Barron's

The wonderful century also saw the plunder of the Earth’s resources, suffering in urban slums and humanitarian catastrophe in Europe’s colonies.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Visually epic, sonically relentless and otherwise fatuous, the film has a dramatic inertia occasionally punctuated by eruptions of utter catastrophe—a series of shocks that leaves you singed, shaken and not much better for it.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• accident 
• adversity 
• calamity 
• casualty 
• cataclysm 
• crash 
• debacle 
• devastation 
• disaster 
• emergency 
• failure 
• fiasco 
• hardship 
• meltdown 
• misery 
• mishap 
• tragedy 
• trouble 
• wreck