Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A violent disruption or breaking up.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A breaking asunder; disruption.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative spelling of cataclysm.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cataclasm.

Examples

  • He said "No" when he meant "Yes," and "Yes" for "No," and contradicted himself in each fresh version of the cataclasm which had seared his sky with lightning.

    One Wonderful Night A Romance of New York Louis Tracy 1895

  • And in this universal cataclasm of the starry councils, what could a poor Diana do, Diana of the Petty Bag, but abandon her pride of place to some rude Orion?

    Framley Parsonage Anthony Trollope 1848

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "A hag as mad as Cassandra warns a shah that bad karma attracts phantasmal cataclasms."

    Eunoia by Christian Bök (upgraded edition), p 17

    May 20, 2010