catastrophe means any large and disastrous event of great significance.
catastrophe is pronounced /kəˈtæstɹəfi/.
Why “catastrophe” is a great word
A sudden and widespread disaster, or the decisive, often disastrous, turning point in a dramatic plot. From Ancient Greek καταστροφή (katastrophḗ, 'overturning, sudden turn'), from καταστρέφω (katastréphō, 'to overturn'), itself from κατά (katá, 'down') + στρέφω (stréphō, 'to turn'). First used in English in the early 1500s in reference to the turning point of a drama. Unlike 'calamity,' which suggests a grievous but personal loss, or 'crisis,' a precarious juncture that could swing either way, catastrophe is the final, fatal pivot into ruin. It is the tectonic plate giving way, the diagnosis spoken aloud, and the hero's fatal flaw laid bare in the third act; it is the terrible completion of a pattern we suddenly perceive we have been building all along.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek καταστροφή (katastrophḗ), from καταστρέφω (katastréphō, “to overturn”), from κατά (katá, “down, against”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).
noun
- Any large and disastrous event of great significance.“The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophe.”
- A disaster beyond expectations.
- The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot; the dénouement.“Pat : he comes like the Cataſtrophe of the old Comedie : my Cue is villanous Melancholly, with a ſighe like Tom o’ Bedlam.”
- A type of bifurcation, where a system shifts between two stable states.
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