catastrophe

• catastrophë (now rare)

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

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /kəˈtæstɹəfi/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ca‧tas‧tro‧phe

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: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by 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

catastrophe f (plural catastrophes)

1. (archaic) Superseded spelling of catastrofe.

Borrowed from Latin catastropha, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek καταστροφή (katastrophḗ).

• IPA^(key): /ka.tas.tʁɔf/

• Audio

  (file)

catastrophe f (plural catastrophes)

1. catastrophe

• cata (informal)
• désastre

catastrophe

1. first-person singular present indicative of catastropher
2. third-person singular present indicative of catastropher
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of catastropher
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of catastropher
5. second-person singular imperative of catastropher

• “catastrophe” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).