cataclysm
Americannoun
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any violent upheaval, especially one of a social or political nature.
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Physical Geography. a sudden and violent physical action producing changes in the earth's surface.
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an extensive flood; deluge.
noun
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a violent upheaval, esp of a political, military, or social nature
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a disastrous flood; deluge
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geology another name for catastrophe
Related Words
See disaster.
Other Word Forms
- cataclysmic adjective
- cataclysmically adverb
Etymology
Origin of cataclysm
1625–35; < Late Latin cataclysmos (Vulgate) < Greek kataklysmós flood (akin to kataklýzein to flood), equivalent to kata- cata- + klysmós a washing
Explanation
The hurricane battered the coast, causing the city to flood, and tens of thousands of people were stranded without food or water. When an event causes great suffering, we call it a cataclysm. Cataclysm comes from the Greek word kataklysmos, which means "a deluge or flood." So saying something was “a disaster of cataclysmic proportions” is particularly apt when you're talking about a tsunami. Still, people use the word cataclysmic to describe non-watery disasters, too, like stock market crashes, painful breakups, and failed grammar tests.
Vocabulary lists containing cataclysm
Break It Down: Cata
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Calamity, Catastrophe, and Crisis: Disaster Words
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World Without Fish
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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.
There is no way to prove this, but perhaps the cataclysm of the war impressed upon that generation the fragility of civilization and learning, and the need to preserve them.
From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026
If Blackstone and other lenders recover all or most of their financing, it would buttress their case that investors have overreacted to software cataclysm concerns.
From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026
The frantic warnings of a Cosmic Weatherman go unheard as winter, confoundingly, follows spring, and summer arrives as a double cataclysm of fire and floods.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
For me and many others, it’s impossible to consider Dec. 18, 2021 as anything more than a cataclysm that could have and should have been prevented.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2025
It’s safe to say this is going to be a cataclysm.
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.
