catastrophize
Americanverb (used with or without object)
Usage
What does catastrophize mean? To catastrophize is to think of a situation as much worse than it really is—to act as if a negative circumstance is the worst possible scenario. A catastrophe is a disaster or an utter failure or fiasco—it’s when something has gone wrong in the worst way. Catastrophize comes from psychology but is now also used in everyday speech. In British English, it’s usually spelled catastrophise. Example: I wish you wouldn’t catastrophize,” she said. “Things really aren’t that bad!
Etymology
Origin of catastrophize
First recorded in 1960–65; catastroph(e) + -ize
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.
See Examples For:
We love to catastrophize about traffic headaches — it’s in our civic DNA, after all — but what so often happens isn’t as bad as we thought it would be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2023
But as civic institutions lose the authority they once enjoyed, scholars with an eye toward the future appear reluctant to catastrophize the situation.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 3, 2023
“When we catastrophize, we raise the stress hormone cortisol,” Serani says.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 29, 2021
It’s hard not to catastrophize when you hear some of the stories out there.
From New York Times ● May 14, 2020
In a time when we can count on little, we know for sure that Cathy will continue to catastrophize and will probably give off a bunch of cartoon sweat droplets while doing so.
From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2020
I constantly catastrophized about what if someone else I loved could die?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2022
They should be proud of the more welcoming environments they helped to create and tout their schools’ records on diversity rather than shrinking timidly away in the face of the catastrophized protests of a few.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 27, 2015
Thus we received two mortal blows in one evening; never was family pilfered more ignominiously; never was amateur play more peevishly catastrophized.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 53, No. 332, June, 1843 by Various
As social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has argued, this intellectual environment can foster catastrophizing, tribalism and an exaggerated sense of vulnerability.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
Among the many tedious features of market panics is the well-known cognitive error of catastrophizing.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 13, 2026
It also feels wrong to be catastrophizing America when things aren’t so perfect here either.
From Slate ● Apr. 8, 2025
CBT participants also exhibited significantly less pain catastrophizing and reported that their FM symptoms had significantly less impact on their daily lives.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2023
I do my best to get a leash on my catastrophizing, and we commingle, converse, and serve the community.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
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.
