English noun: catastrophe | |||
1. | catastrophe (event) an event resulting in great loss and misfortune | ||
Samples | The whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity. The earthquake was a disaster. | ||
Synonyms | calamity, cataclysm, disaster, tragedy | ||
Broader (hypernym) | bad luck, misfortune | ||
Narrower (hyponym) | act of God, apocalypse, famine, force majeure, inevitable accident, kiss of death, meltdown, plague, tidal wave, tsunami, unavoidable casualty, vis major, visitation | ||
2. | catastrophe (state) a state of extreme (usually irremediable) ruin and misfortune | ||
Samples | Lack of funds has resulted in a catastrophe for our school system. His policies were a disaster. | ||
Synonyms | disaster | ||
Broader (hypernym) | adversity, hard knocks, hardship | ||
3. | catastrophe (phenomenon) a sudden violent change in the earth's surface | ||
Synonyms | cataclysm | ||
Broader (hypernym) | geological phenomenon | ||
Narrower (hyponym) | nuclear winter | ||