Adjacent Words

Catastrophe definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CATASTROPHE,
CATASTROPHY, n.
1. The change or revolution which produces the final event of a dramatic piece; or the unfolding and winding up of the plot, clearing up difficulties, and closing the play. The ancients divided a play into the protasis, epitasis, catastasis, and catastrophy; the introduction, continuance, heightening, and development or conclusion.
2. A final event; conclusion; generally, an unfortunate conclusion, calamity, or disaster.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an event resulting in great loss and misfortune; "the whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity"; "the earthquake was a disaster" [syn: calamity, catastrophe, disaster, tragedy, cataclysm]
2: a state of extreme (usually irremediable) ruin and misfortune; "lack of funds has resulted in a catastrophe for our school system"; "his policies were a disaster" [syn: catastrophe, disaster]
3: a sudden violent change in the earth's surface [syn: catastrophe, cataclysm]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Greek katastroph?, from katastrephein to overturn, from kata- + strephein to turn Date: 1540 1. the final event of the dramatic action especially of a tragedy 2. a momentous tragic event ranging from extreme misfortune to utter overthrow or ruin 3. a. a violent and sudden change in a feature of the earth b. a violent usually destructive natural event (as a supernova) 4. utter failure ; fiasco <the party was a catastrophe> • catastrophic adjective • catastrophically adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a great and usu. sudden disaster. 2 the denouement of a drama. 3 a disastrous end; ruin. 4 an event producing a subversion of the order of things. Derivatives: catastrophic adj. catastrophically adv. Etymology: L catastropha f. Gk katastrophe (as CATA-, strophe turning f. strepho turn)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Catastrophe Ca*tas"tro*phe, n. [L. catastropha, Gr. ?, fr. ? to turn up and down, to overturn; kata` down + ? to turn.] 1. 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. The strange catastrophe of affairs now at London. --Bp. Burnet. The most horrible and portentous catastrophe that nature ever yet saw. --Woodward. 2. The final event in a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy. 3. (Geol.) A violent and widely extended change in the surface of the earth, as, an elevation or subsidence of some part of it, effected by internal causes. --Whewell.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(catastrophes) A catastrophe is an unexpected event that causes great suffering or damage. From all points of view, war would be a catastrophe... = disaster N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Upshot, issue, consummation, conclusion, termination, dénouement, finale, winding up, finishing stroke, final event. 2. Disaster, misfortune, mishap, mischance. See calamity.

Moby Thesaurus

Z, accident, action, anagnorisis, angle, apodosis, architectonics, architecture, argument, atmosphere, background, bad luck, bitter end, bloodless revolution, blow, bouleversement, breakdown, breaking up, breakup, calamity, casualty, cataclysm, cave, cave-in, ceasing, cessation, characterization, clean slate, clean sweep, climax, coda, collapse, collision, color, completion, complication, computer revolution, conclusion, consummation, continuity, contretemps, contrivance, convulsion, counterrevolution, crack of doom, crack-up, crash, culmination, curtain, curtains, death, debacle, decease, denouement, design, destination, destiny, development, device, disaster, doom, effect, end, end point, end result, ending, envoi, epilogue, episode, eschatology, expiration, fable, failure, falling action, fate, fiasco, final result, final solution, final twitch, final words, finale, finality, finis, finish, gimmick, goal, grief, ill hap, incident, izzard, last, last act, last breath, last gasp, last things, last trumpet, last words, latter end, line, local color, misadventure, mischance, misfortune, mishap, mood, motif, movement, mythos, nasty blow, omega, overthrow, overturn, palace revolution, payoff, period, peripeteia, peroration, pileup, plan, plot, quietus, radical change, recognition, resolution, resting place, revolt, revolution, revolutionary war, revulsion, rising action, scheme, secondary plot, shipwreck, shock, slant, smash, smashup, spasm, staggering blow, stoppage, stopping place, story, striking alteration, structure, subject, subplot, subversion, swan song, sweeping change, switch, tabula rasa, technological revolution, term, terminal, termination, terminus, thematic development, theme, tone, topic, total change, total loss, tragedy, transilience, twist, upset, violent change, washout, windup, wrack, wreck