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
Synonym Usage
See disaster.
Other Word Forms
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.
According the legend, boy and girl twins born in Higashi Village on a day with equal parts day and night herald a cataclysm that only they can mend.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
Since then, the media world has undergone a cataclysm, as billions of dollars in ad spending migrated from print to online.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 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
I called Whitney again to ask her, as I was asking others, if she knew anyone who had anticipated the subprime mortgage cataclysm, thus setting himself up in advance to make a fortune from it.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.