catastrophe

noun
/kəˈtæstɹəfi/US

Etymology

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

Definitions

  1. Any large and disastrous event of great significance.

    • The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophe.
    • Between these high lights accumulated disaster, social catastrophe.
  2. A disaster beyond expectations.

  3. The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot

    The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot; the dénouement.

    • Pat : he comes like the Cataſtrophe of the old Comedie : my Cue is villanous Melancholly, with a ſighe like Tom o’ Bedlam.
  4. + 1 more definition
    1. A type of bifurcation, where a system shifts between two stable states.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at catastrophe. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01catastrophe02disastrous03calamitous04calamity05disaster

A definitional loop anchored at catastrophe. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

5 hops · closes at catastrophe

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA