catastrophe.
Any large and disastrous event of great significance.
Meaning & usage
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.
A type of bifurcation, where a system shifts between two stable states.
Where this word comes from
From Ancient Greek καταστροφή (katastrophḗ), from καταστρέφω (katastréphō, “to overturn”), from κατά (katá, “down, against”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).
Try it on your idea.
catastrophe has 11 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.