Catastrophic

How to spell catastrophic

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce catastrophic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does catastrophic mean?

1. adjectiveCausing sudden, severe, and usually irreparable damage or harm.

Catastrophic in a sentence

• The flood caused catastrophic damage to the riverside warehouses.

• A single missed payment is rarely catastrophic for a healthy business.

Where does catastrophic come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek katastrophē, which literally meant 'an overturning' or 'a sudden turn', built from kata 'down' and strephein 'to turn'. In ancient Greek drama the katastrophe was a technical term for the decisive turning point that brought a play to its close, often the unravelling of the plot. When the noun 'catastrophe' entered English in the sixteenth century it carried this dramatic sense, only later broadening to mean any sudden and ruinous disaster. The adjective 'catastrophic' followed, describing anything bringing such disaster. The same strephein 'to turn' root still spins inside familiar words like 'apostrophe' and 'strophe', and remembering that buried 'stroph' (a turning) helps explain the otherwise tricky spelling in the middle of the word.

How the word is built

• cata- (down)
• stroph (from strophē: a turning)
• -ic (adjective suffix)