catastrophist

American  

[kuh-ta-struhf-ist] / kəˈtæ strəf ɪst /

noun

1. a person who expects or predicts large-scale social catastrophe, upheaval, or disaster, or who believes that significant societal change comes about only through such events.

2. a person who believes in geological or biological catastrophism.

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Example Sentences

Studying France, it is always possible to strike a less "catastrophist" note.

From BBC • Sep. 18, 2025

But of course, catastrophist in the other sense too, of, you know, events like plagues.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 25, 2022

“How does the catastrophist not plan for his own catastrophe?”

From Washington Post • Jan. 30, 2021

Visions of Roman villas and Chinese literati gazing at mountains give way to back-to-the-land hippiedom circa Ken Kesey, then to wellness retreats and the eco-bunkers of catastrophist millionaires.

From New York Times • Nov. 5, 2020

So that, under the influence of a great catastrophist, Lyell became the greatest of the uniformitarians, and more than any one man was the destroyer of the older point of view.

From Rustic Sounds and Other Studies in Literature and Natural History by Darwin, Francis, Sir