catastrophe

See also: catastrophé, and catastrophë

English

Alternative forms

• catastrophë (now rare)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek καταστροφή (katastrophḗ), from καταστρέφω (katastréphō, “I overturn”), from κατά (katá, “down, against”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “I turn”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /kəˈtæstɹəfi/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ca‧tas‧tro‧phe

Noun

catastrophe (countable and uncountable, plural catastrophes)

1. Any large and disastrous event of great significance.

   The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophe.

   • 1896, Henry W[illiam] Lucy, “[Session 1894.] A Bad Beginning.”, in A Diary of the Home Rule Parliament, 1892-1895, London, Paris, Melbourne, Vic.: Cassell and Company, Limited, page 320:

     Last night, after the brief sitting of the House of Lords, and before catastrophe befell the Government in the Commons, I had a long chat with the Premier, in which he discussed the Home Rule question and his relations with it in perfectly frank manner.

   • 1913, H. G. Wells, “The New Source of Energy”, in The World Set Free‎^[1], New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, pages 54–55:

     Between these high lights accumulated disaster, social catastrophe.

   • 1964, Nikos Kazantzakis, Michael Cacoyannis, Zorba the Greek, spoken by Alexis Zorba (Anthony Quinn):

     Am I not a man? And is a man not stupid? I'm a man, so I married. Wife, children, house, everything. The full catastrophe.

   • 2019 May 28, Raymond Zhong, Carolyn Zhang, “Food Delivery Apps Are Drowning China in Plastic”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on May 28, 2019, Technology‎^[3]:

     For years, Mao Da, an environmental researcher, has studied the plastic industry in Wen’an County, near Beijing. Workers there used to sort through food and medical waste by hand, he said. Nonrecyclable material was buried in pits near farmland.
     “It was an environmental and public health catastrophe,” Mr. Mao said.

2. (insurance) A disaster beyond expectations.
3. (narratology) The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot; the dénouement.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 286, column 2:

     Pat : he comes like the Cataſtrophe of the old Comedie : my Cue is villanous Melancholly, with a ſighe like Tom o’ Bedlam.

4. (mathematics) A type of bifurcation, where a system shifts between two stable states.

Derived terms

• Carter catastrophe
• castrophony
• catastrophal
• catastrophe bond
• catastrophe theory
• catastrophin
• catastrophize
• cat bond
• climate catastrophe
• cosy catastrophe
• cowtastrophe
• cozy catastrophe
• disastrophe
• ecocatastrophe
• error catastrophe
• eucatastrophe
• oxygenation catastrophe
• oxygen catastrophe
• supercatastrophe
• ultraviolet catastrophe
• vacuum catastrophe

 

Related terms

• anastrophe
• apostrophe
• cataclysm
• catastrophic
• catastrophism
• catastrophist
• metastrophe

 

Translations

any large and disastrous event of great significance

• Albanian: katastrofë (sq) f, fatkeqësi (sq) f
• Arabic: كَارِثَة f (kāriṯa), فَاجِعَة f (fājiʕa), مُصِيبَة f (muṣība), آفَة f (ʔāfa)
• Armenian: աղետ (hy) (aġet)
• Azerbaijani: faciə (az), fəlakət (az), müsibət (az)
• Belarusian: катастро́фа f (katastrófa)
• Bengali: দুর্যোগ (bn) (durjōg), আফত (bn) (aphot)
• Bulgarian: катастро́фа (bg) f (katastrófa), бе́дствие (bg) n (bédstvie)
• Burmese: ဘေးဆိုး (my) (bhe:hcui:)
• Catalan: catàstrofe (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 災難／灾难 (zoi¹ naan⁶), 災殃／灾殃 (zoi¹ joeng¹), 災害／灾害 (zoi¹ hoi⁶), 災禍／灾祸 (zoi¹ wo⁶)

  Mandarin: 災難／灾难 (zh) (zāinàn), 災殃／灾殃 (zh) (zāiyāng), 災害／灾害 (zh) (zāihài), 災禍／灾祸 (zh) (zāihuò)

• Czech: katastrofa (cs) f
• Danish: katastrofe (da) c
• Dutch: catastrofe (nl) f, ramp (nl) f, onheil (nl) n
• Esperanto: katastrofo
• Estonian: katastroof (et), õnnetus (et)
• Finnish: katastrofi (fi)
• French: catastrophe (fr) f
• Galician: catástrofe f
• Georgian: კატასტროფა (ḳaṭasṭropa)
• German: Katastrophe (de) f, Unglück (de) n, Unheil (de) n
• Greek: καταστροφή (el) f (katastrofí), όλεθρος (el) m (ólethros)

  Ancient: καταστροφή f (katastrophḗ)

• Haitian Creole: katastwòf
• Hebrew: קָטַסטרוֹפָה (he) f (katastrófa), אָסוֹן (he) m (asón)
• Hindi: तबाही (hi) f (tabāhī), आपदा (hi) f (āpdā), आफ़त f (āfat), मुसीबत (hi) f (musībat)
• Hungarian: katasztrófa (hu), szerencsétlenség (hu)
• Icelandic: katastrófa f
• Ido: katastrofo (io)
• Indonesian: bencana (id), katastrofe (id)
• Irish: anachain (ga) f, eirleach m, matalang m, tubaiste (ga) f, turraing f
• Italian: catastrofe (it) f
• Japanese: 大災害 (ja) (だいさいがい, daisaigai), 災難 (ja) (さいなん, sainan), 災害 (ja) (さいがい, saigai), 災殃 (ja) (さいおう, saiō)
• Kazakh: апат (kk) (apat), қирау (qirau), алапат (alapat)
• Khmer: មហន្តរាយ (mĕəʼhɑntaʼraay), ភយូបទ្រព (km) (phĕəʼyuupaʼtrup), ហាយនៈ (km) (haayĕəʼnĕəʼ), ភយន្តរាយ (km) (phĕəʼyŏəntaʼraay)
• Korean: 재난(災難) (ko) (jaenan), 재앙(災殃) (ko) (jaeang), 재해(災害) (ko) (jaehae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: karesat (ku), mûsîbet (ku), felaket (ku)

• Kyrgyz: катастрофа (katastrofa), кыйроо (ky) (kıyroo), апаат (ky) (apaat)
• Lao: ພິບັດ (phi bat), ໄພພິບັດ (phai phi bat)
• Latin: calamitās f
• Latvian: katastrofa f, nelaime f
• Lithuanian: katastrofa f, nelaimė f
• Macedonian: катастро́фа f (katastrófa)
• Malay: bencana (ms)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: аваар (mn) (avaar), осол (mn) (osol), гамшиг (mn) (gamšig), сүйрэл (mn) (süjrel), аюул (mn) (ajuul)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: katastrofe m

  Nynorsk: katastrofe m

• Occitan: catastròfa (oc) f
• Ottoman Turkish: غول (ğul)
• Pashto: فاجعه (ps) f (fāje'a), آفت (ps) m (āfát), مصيبت m (mosibát)
• Persian: فاجِعِه (fa) (fâje'e), فَجایِع (fa) pl (fajâye'), مُصیبَت (fa) (mosibat), آفَت (fa) (âfat)
• Polish: katastrofa (pl) f
• Portuguese: catástrofe (pt) f
• Romanian: catastrofă (ro) f, dezastru (ro) n
• Russian: катастро́фа (ru) f (katastrófa), бе́дствие (ru) n (bédstvije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: катастро́фа f

  Roman: katastrófa (sh) f

• Sinhalese: ව්‍යසන (si) (wyasana)
• Slovak: katastrofa f
• Slovene: katastrofa f
• Spanish: catástrofe (es) f
• Swedish: katastrof (sv) c
• Tajik: садама (tg) (sadama), фалокат (tg) (falokat), ҳалокат (tg) (halokat), фоҷеа (fojea), фоҷиа (fojia), мусибат (tg) (musibat), офат (ofat)
• Tatar: афәт (tt) (afät)
• Thai: พิบัติ (th) (pí-bàt), ภัยพิบัติ (th) (pai-pí-bàt)
• Turkish: felaket (tr), facia (tr), afet (tr)
• Turkmen: heläkçilik, betbagtlyk (tk), betbagtçylyk (tk)
• Ukrainian: катастро́фа (uk) f (katastrófa)
• Urdu: آفَت (ur) f (āfat), مُصِیبَت (ur) f (musībat), تَباہی f (tabāhī)
• Uyghur: پالاكەت (palaket), ھالاكەت (halaket), ئاپەت (apet), بەختسىزلىك (bextsizlik)
• Uzbek: katastrofa, fojia (uz), halokat (uz), falokat (uz), musibat (uz), afat (uz), ofat (uz), baxtsizlik (uz)
• Vietnamese: tai ương (vi), tai họa lớn, thảm hoạ (vi)
• Volapük: katastrof (vo)
• Walloon: rascråwe (wa) f

disaster beyond expectations

• Arabic: نَكْبَة f (nakba), فَاجِعَة f (fājiʕa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 災難／灾难 (zh) (zāinàn)

• Czech: katastrofa (cs) f
• Danish: katastrofe (da) c
• Finnish: katastrofi (fi)
• Georgian: კატასტროფა (ḳaṭasṭropa)
• German: Katastrophe (de) f
• Greek: καταστροφή (el) f (katastrofí)
• Indonesian: katastrofe (id)
• Italian: catastrofe (it) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: katastrofe m

  Nynorsk: katastrofe m

• Persian: فاجِعِه (fa) (fâje'e), فَجایِع (fa) pl (fajâye')
• Portuguese: catástrofe (pt) f
• Romanian: catastrofă (ro) f
• Russian: катастро́фа (ru) f (katastrófa)
• Swedish: katastrof (sv) c
• Turkish: felaket (tr)
• Vietnamese: thảm họa (vi)
• Volapük: katastrof (vo)

Ancient Greek tragedies: the solution of the plot

• Catalan: catàstrofe (ca) f
• Czech: katastrofa (cs) f
• Finnish: katastrofi (fi)
• German: Katastrophe (de) f
• Greek: έκβαση (el) f (ékvasi)
• Indonesian: katastrofe (id)
• Irish: catastróf f
• Italian: catastrofe (it) f
• Romanian: deznodământ (ro) n
• Spanish: catástrofe (es) f

mathematics: type of bifurcation

• Czech: katastrofa (cs) f
• Finnish: katastrofi (fi)
• Italian: catastrofe (it) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} אסון (he) m (ason) (1)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} आपत (hi) f (āpat), ^{(please verify)} आपद (hi) f (āpad)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} катастро́фа f, ^{(please verify)} нѐсрећа f

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} katastrófa (sh) f, ^{(please verify)} nèsreća f

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} katastrof (sv)
• Urdu: ^{(please verify)} آفت (ur) f (āfat), ^{(please verify)} آپت f (āpat), ^{(please verify)} آپد f (āpad)

Dutch

Noun

catastrophe f (plural catastrophes)

1. (archaic) Superseded spelling of catastrofe.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin catastropha, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek καταστροφή (katastrophḗ).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.tas.tʁɔf/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

catastrophe f (plural catastrophes)

1. catastrophe

   Synonym: désastre

Synonyms

• cata (informal)

Derived terms

• en catastrophe
• scénario catastrophe

Verb

catastrophe

1. inflection of catastropher:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “catastrophe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.