Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A great, often sudden calamity.
- noun A complete failure; a fiasco.
- noun The concluding action of a drama, especially a classical tragedy, following the climax and containing a resolution of the plot.
- noun A sudden violent change in the earth's surface; a cataclysm.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The arrangement of actions or interconnection of causes which constitutes the final event of a dramatic piece; the unfolding and winding up of the plot, clearing up difficulties, and closing the play; the dénouement.
- noun A notable event terminating a connected series; a finishing stroke or wind-up; specifically, an unfortunate conclusion; hence, any great calamity or disaster, especially one happening suddenly or from an irresistible cause.
- noun In geology, an occurrence of geological importance not in harmony with preceding events, and not the result of causes acting always in a given direction; a cataclysm.
- noun Synonyms Disaster, Calamity, etc. (see
mis-fortune ); consummation, finale.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An event producing a subversion of the order or system of things; a final event, usually of a calamitous or disastrous nature; hence, sudden calamity; great misfortune.
- noun The final event in a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy.
- noun (Geol.) A violent and widely extended change in the surface of the earth, .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any
large anddisastrous event of greatsignificance . - noun insurance A
disaster beyond expectations - noun narratology The
dramatic event thatinitiates the resolution of the plot in atragedy . - noun mathematics A type of
bifurcation , where a system shifts between two stable states.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
- noun a state of extreme (usually irremediable) ruin and misfortune
- noun a sudden violent change in the earth's surface
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word catastrophe.
Examples
-
Sarkozy told reporters the images of the disaster have stirred great emotions in France and said his government is prepared to send teams of aid workers to help in what he called a catastrophe that apparently is without precedent.
World Leaders Offer Sympathy, Assistance to Quake-Ravaged Japan 2011
-
Anyway, according to that press release, the catastrophe is the result of a conjunction of factors such as bad numbers, bad feelings … I think it is just too much to explore such a tragedy in this way.
Global Voices in English » Air Bus AF 447: Sorrow, lack of information and sensationalism 2009
-
Sarkozy told reporters the images of the disaster have stirred great emotions in France and said his government is prepared to send teams of aid workers to help in what he called a catastrophe that apparently is without precedent.
World Leaders Offer Sympathy, Assistance to Quake-Ravaged Japan 2011
-
The nature of this catastrophe is always vague, but usually begins with homelessness, then explores the nether regions of destitution.
"Mirror, mirror, where's the crystal palace?" greygirlbeast 2009
-
He said the protesters wanted "to undermine the existence of the State of Israel—what they call the catastrophe that needs to be corrected."
Israelis Fight Off Protesters at Borders Charles Levinson 2011
-
Whether this catastrophe is actually provoked by the increasingly depressed people of the Third World themselves, or whether their misery is used by other power blocs, with different ideologies, does not matter very much, for it will be the end of our world as we know it.
The Third World 1972
-
In November that incident occurred which he calls the catastrophe of his life.
Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 3 of 3) Essay 5: On Pattison's Memoirs John Morley 1880
-
Israeli troops opened fire at three border locations to try to prevent crowds of protesters from crossing, killing at least 13 people, on the day Palestinians annually mark what they term the "catastrophe" of Israel's founding in 1948.
Reuters: Top News 2011
-
The word catastrophe, derived from Greek, translates roughly as "an overturning."
The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Michael Posner 2011
-
He also at one point said he disagreed with the utility's media staff editing out the word "catastrophe" in referring to it.
unknown title 2011
milosrdenstvi commented on the word catastrophe
Etymologically: kata-strophe, a down-turning.
September 7, 2009