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): /kʌˈtæstɹəfi/

• Audio (GA)

  (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.

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

• 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, 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 (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

• 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 (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 (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.