catastrophe
Americannoun
-
a sudden and widespread disaster.
the catastrophe of war.
- Synonyms:
- calamity, misfortune
- Antonyms:
- triumph
-
any misfortune, mishap, or failure; fiasco.
The play was so poor our whole evening was a catastrophe.
-
a final event or conclusion, usually an unfortunate one; a disastrous end.
the great catastrophe of the Old South at Appomattox.
- Antonyms:
- triumph
-
(in a drama) the point at which the circumstances overcome the central motive, introducing the close or conclusion; dénouement.
-
Geology. a sudden, violent disturbance, especially of a part of the surface of the earth; cataclysm.
-
Also called catastrophe function. Mathematics. any of the mathematical functions that describe the discontinuities that are treated in catastrophe theory.
noun
-
a sudden, extensive, or notable disaster or misfortune
-
the denouement of a play, esp a classical tragedy
-
a final decisive event, usually causing a disastrous end
-
Also called: cataclysm. any sudden and violent change in the earth's surface caused by flooding, earthquake, or some other rapid process
Related Words
See disaster.
Other Word Forms
- catastrophal adjective
- catastrophic adjective
- catastrophical adjective
- catastrophically adverb
- supercatastrophe noun
Etymology
Origin of catastrophe
First recorded in 1570–80; from Greek katastrophḗ “an overturning,” from katastréphein “to overturn”; equivalent to cata- + strophe
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.
But like everything else, the object itself is not immune to catastrophe.
From Los Angeles Times
"A cultural catastrophe is staring Britain in the face: the imminent loss of its pipe organs," a spokesperson said.
From BBC
These fleas passed the infection from rats to humans, fueling the catastrophe known as the Black Death.
From Science Daily
And he worries that his American-born friends, who have enjoyed relatively peaceful lives, don’t realize how quickly things can slide into catastrophe.
From Los Angeles Times
A gripping documentary revisits Japan’s combined catastrophe in 2011 of a tsunami and a nuclear crisis—which threatened to become even worse.
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.
