catastrophism

[ kuh-tas-truh-fiz-uhm ]

/ kəˈtæs trəˌfɪz əm /

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noun Geology.

the doctrine that certain vast geological changes in the earth's history were caused by catastrophes rather than gradual evolutionary processes.

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Origin of catastrophism

First recorded in 1865–70; catastrophe + -ism

OTHER WORDS FROM catastrophism

ca·tas·tro·phist, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use catastrophism in a sentence

Will the catastrophist diehards learn to stop worrying and accept the recovery?
Bad News for People Who Like Bad News|Daniel Gross|December 20, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He appears to have a catastrophist vision of Zionism and of Jewish life.
What Will Change|Daniel Levy|May 9, 2012|DAILY BEAST
I wish there was any chance of Prestwich being shaken; but I fear he is too much of a catastrophist.
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume II (of II)|Charles Darwin
Mr. King, however, is not a Catastrophist of a very violent sort.
Scientific American, Vol. XXXVII.--No. 2. [New Series.], July 14, 1877|Various

British Dictionary definitions for catastrophism

catastrophism

/ (kəˈtæstrəˌfɪzəm) /

noun

an old doctrine, now discarded, that the earth was created and has subsequently been shaped by sudden divine acts which have no logical connection with each other rather than by gradual evolutionary processes

Also called: neo-catastrophism a modern doctrine that the gradual evolutionary processes shaping the earth have been supplemented in the past by the effects of huge natural catastrophesCompare uniformitarianism, gradualism (def. 2)

Derived forms of catastrophism

catastrophist, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for catastrophism

catastrophism

[ (kuh-tas-truh-fiz-uhm) ]

A theory holding that changes in the Earth take place swiftly and irreversibly. (Contrast gradualism.)

notes for catastrophism

A belief in Noah's flood is one version of catastrophism.