Catastrophe
[kə'tæstrəfɪ] or [kə'tæstrəfi]
Definition
(noun.) a sudden violent change in the earth's surface.
(noun.) 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'.
Checked by Danny--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) 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.
(n.) The final event in a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy.
(n.) 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.
Editor: Rae
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Upshot, issue, consummation, conclusion, termination, denouement, FINALE, winding up, finishing stroke, final event.[2]. Calamity, disaster, misfortune, mishap, mischance.
Typed by Lesley
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Revolution, disaster, calamity, misfortune, misadventure, reverse, blow,visitation
ANT:Blessing, victory, triumph, felicitation, achievement, ovation, success,godsend
Inputed by Celia
Definition
n. an overturning: a final event: an unfortunate conclusion: a calamity.—adj. Catastroph′ic—ns. Catas′trophism the theory in geology that accounts for 'breaks in the succession' by the hypothesis of vast catastrophes—world-wide destruction of floras and faunas and the sudden introduction or creation of new forms of life after the forces of nature had sunk into repose; Catas′trophist a holder of the foregoing as opposed to the uniformitarian theory.
Editor: Luke
Examples
- That catastrophe and other events may have worked upon Mr. Osborne. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- This change took from us the fear of an immediate catastrophe, although we were still anxious as to the final result. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Against the unifying effort of Christendom and against the unifying influence of the mechanical revolution, catastrophe won. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It would be a terrible catastrophe should such a thing happen, for not one of us could hope to escape. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- And to what degree was her dread of a catastrophe intensified by the sense of being fatally involved in it? Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- How did the catastrophe affect him? Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- The irony of circumstances holds no mortal catastrophe in respect. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Far away, long before the dawn of history, this catastrophe occurred. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The catastrophe of the war was not an unnecessary disaster; it was a necessary fulfilment of such an age of drift. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- He was both out of pocket and out of spirits by that catastrophe, failed in his health, and prophesied the speedy ruin of the Empire. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The catastrophe of this tree excited my extreme astonishment; and I eagerly inquired of my father the nature and origin of thunder and lightning. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- In that case, hopeless became admission; my adventure must issue in catastrophe. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Your own opinion is, then, that some unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him? Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Where was the use of tempting such a catastrophe? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- But this evening the old drama had a new catastrophe. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The Swiss deposits contain clear evidence of such catastrophes. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Catastrophes are disastrous to radical and conservative alike: they do not preserve what was worth maintaining; they allow a deformed and often monstrous perversion of the original plan. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- That is what precipitates violence, that is what renders social co-operation impossible, that is what makes catastrophes the method of change. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Wars that were unmeaning catastrophes swept down upon any little gleam of prosperity or decency to which this or that community clambered. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Typist: Pierce