Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cataclysmic
Explanation
Something that’s cataclysmic is violently destructive. The word often refers to natural disasters, like a cataclysmic earthquake, but cataclysmic can describe other events as well as long as they’re bad enough, like the cataclysmic failure you had making meatloaf. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tornados, landslide . . . These natural disasters are often described as cataclysmic when they cause great devastation. Cataclysmic isn't just for describing natural disasters — personal disasters can be called cataclysmic as well if you want to emphasize just how badly something turned out. If your meatloaf is just so-so, it’s not so disastrous. But if it’s so spectacularly bad that no one can eat it? That’s a cataclysmic failure.
Vocabulary lists containing cataclysmic
Break It Down: Cata
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A Monster Calls
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This Week In Culture: August 30–September 4, 2020
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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.
And because these precious cataclysmic moments are so brief the spacecraft has to be quick and nimble – hence its name.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
"These extinctions were driven by relatively rapid climate shifts and cataclysmic volcanic eruptions," says Dr. Scofield.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 26, 2026
In “Burn the Water,” Ray imagines London in 2425, roughly 300 years after the polar ice caps have collapsed, flooding most of the world in a cataclysmic event.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026
They end up being a cataclysmic event in the family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
Clearly something big and abrupt, and probably cataclysmic, had produced this arresting spike.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.