catastrophe : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: catastrophe	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for catastrophe
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
catastrophe n an event resulting in great loss and misfortune; "the whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity"; "the earthquake was a disaster" Synonym(s): calamity, catastrophe, disaster, tragedy, cataclysm 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" Synonym(s): catastrophe, disaster a sudden violent change in the earth's surface Synonym(s): catastrophe, cataclysm
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Catastrophe \Catas"trophe\, n. [L. catastropha, Gr. [?], fr. [?] to turn up and down, to overturn; kata` down + [?] to turn.] 1. 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. The strange catastrophe of affairs now at London. --Bp. Burnet. The most horrible and portentous catastrophe that nature ever yet saw. --Woodward. 2. The final event in a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy. 3. (Geol.) 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. --Whewell.