catastrophe

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 (GA)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ca‧tas‧tro‧phe

Noun

catastrophe (plural catastrophes)

1. Any large and disastrous event of great significance.
   • 1913, H. G. Wells, “The New Source of Energy”, in The World Set Free‎, New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, pages 54–55:

     Between these high lights accumulated disaster, social catastrophe.

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 606515358, [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

• castrophony
• catastrophe bond
• catastrophe theory
• climate catastrophe
• cosy catastrophe
• cowtastrophe
• disastrophe
• error catastrophe
• eucatastrophe
• oxygen catastrophe
• 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 Arabic: كَارِثَة‎ f (kāriṯa), فَاجِعَة‎ f (fājiʿa), مُصِيبَة‎ f (muṣība), آفَة‎ f (ʾāfa) Armenian: աղետ (hy) (ałet) Azerbaijani: faciə (az), fəlakət (az), müsibət (az) Belarusian: катастро́фа f (katastrófa) Bengali: দুর্যোগ (bn) (durĵog) Bulgarian: катастро́фа (bg) f (katastrófa) Burmese: ဘေးဆိုး (my) (bhe:hcui:) Catalan: catàstrofe (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 災難／灾难 (zh) (zāinàn), 災殃／灾殃 (zh) (zāiyāng), 災害／灾害 (zh) (zāihài) Czech: katastrofa (cs) f Danish: katastrofe (da) c Dutch: catastrofe (nl) f Esperanto: katastrofo Estonian: katastroof (et) Finnish: katastrofi (fi) French: catastrophe (fr) f Galician: catástrofe f Georgian: კატასტროფა (ḳaṭasṭropa) German: Katastrophe (de) f, Unglück (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 (ason) Hindi: तबाही (hi) f (tabāhī), आपदा (hi) f (āpdā), आफ़त f (āfat) Hungarian: katasztrófa (hu), szerencsétlenség (hu) 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 (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) Lao: ພິບັດ (phi bat), ໄພພິບັດ (phai phi bat) Latin: calamitās f Latvian: katastrofa f Lithuanian: katastrofa f Macedonian: катастро́фа f (katastrófa) Malay: bencana (ms) Mongolian: Cyrillic: аваар (mn) (avaar), осол (mn) (osol) Norwegian: Bokmål: katastrofe m Nynorsk: katastrofe m Ottoman Turkish: غول‎ (ğul) Pashto: فاجعه‎ (ps) f (fāǰe'a), آفت‎ (ps) m (āfát), مصيبت‎ m (mosibát) Persian: فاجعه‎ (fa) (fâje'e), فجایع‎ (fa) (fajâye'), مصیبت‎ (fa) (mosibat), آفت‎ (fa) (âfat) Polish: katastrofa (pl) f Portuguese: catástrofe (pt) f Romanian: catastrofă (ro) f, dezastru (ro) n Russian: катастро́фа (ru) f (katastrófa) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: катастро́фа f Roman: katastrófa (sh) f Sinhalese: ව්‍යසන (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), фочиа (fočia), мусибат (tg) (musibat), офат (ofat) Thai: พิบัติ (pí-bàt), ภัยพิบัติ (th) (pai-pí-bàt) Turkish: felaket (tr), facia (tr), afet (tr) Turkmen: heläkçilik Ukrainian: катастро́фа (uk) f (katastrófa) Urdu: آفت‎ (ur) f (āfat) Uyghur: ھالاكەت‎ (halaket), ئاپەت‎ (apet) Uzbek: katastrofa, fojia (uz), halokat (uz), falokat (uz), musibat (uz), afat (uz), ofat (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 (fājiʿa) 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: فاجعه‎ (fa) (fâje'e), فجایع‎ (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)

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Dutch

Noun

catastrophe f (plural catastrophes)

1. (archaic) Superseded spelling of catastrofe.

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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.