Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Same as catastrophic.

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

  • adjective rare Catastrophic.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • During this time, the US government, at the behest of big business, repeatedly strong-armed the fledgling worker's rights movement, only budging slightly in the aftermath of catastrophal incidents such as the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, in which 146 low-paid seamstresses burned or leaped to their deaths.

    US Economy- another great depression? 2007

  • It will be recalled that one of the most disquieting incidents in America, immediately preceding the catastrophal rising of the oceans, was the melting of the Arctic snows and ice-fields, with consequent inundations in the north.

    The Second Deluge 1890

  • This begins to look very ugly for Airbus, a company that had a very bad record with software issues, as the catastrophal wiring snafu (fortumately not letal!) at the Superjumbo A380 already did show.

    Yahoo! Buzz US: Top Stories 2009

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