Entry Word: cataclysmal

Function: adjective

Meaning:

or cataclysmic

1 bringing about ruin or misfortune <a cataclysmal decision to plunge the nation into war> — see fatal 1
2 causing or tending to cause destruction <a cataclysmal landslide that virtually wiped out the village> — see destructive 1
3 marked by sudden or violent disturbance <the French Revolution was one of the great cataclysmal events in modern history> — see convulsive