cataclysmic
Other forms: cataclysmically
Something that’s cataclysmic is violently destructive. The word often refers to natural disasters, like a cataclysmic earthquake, but cataclysmic can describe other events as well as long as they’re bad enough, like the cataclysmic failure you had making meatloaf.
Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, tornados, landslide . . . These natural disasters are often described as cataclysmic when they cause great devastation. Cataclysmic isn't just for describing natural disasters — personal disasters can be called cataclysmic as well if you want to emphasize just how badly something turned out. If your meatloaf is just so-so, it’s not so disastrous. But if it’s so spectacularly bad that no one can eat it? That’s a cataclysmic failure.
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severely destructive“cataclysmic nuclear war”“a cataclysmic earthquake”synonyms: cataclysmaldestructivecausing destruction or much damage
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Vocabulary lists containing cataclysmic
Learn these words derived from the Greek root kata-, which has a range of meanings including "down," "through," "against" "across," "along with," and "wrongly."
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