as in disasters
a sudden violent event that brings about great loss or destruction
the fear that the next global pandemic could be an apocalypse of biblical proportions
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Recent Examples of apocalypses
Based on Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, the surrealist musical follows one nuclear family across thousands of years and three apocalypses.
—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
10 Dec. 2025
And a lot of the pseudepigrapha, like the fake gospels and fake apocalypses, fill in gaps in the record that can serve latter-day, post-biblical purposes.
—
JSTOR Daily,
16 Oct. 2025
The audience for 2025’s reel of zombie apocalypses lives in a world shaped, in part, by Americans’ refusal to accept an aging Joe Biden’s ineligibility for President.
—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
9 Aug. 2025
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
10 Dec. 2025
And a lot of the pseudepigrapha, like the fake gospels and fake apocalypses, fill in gaps in the record that can serve latter-day, post-biblical purposes.
—
JSTOR Daily,
16 Oct. 2025
The audience for 2025’s reel of zombie apocalypses lives in a world shaped, in part, by Americans’ refusal to accept an aging Joe Biden’s ineligibility for President.
—
Katy Waldman,
New Yorker,
9 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apocalypses
Noun
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Hanging Lake Trail in Glenwood Canyon CBS The project, led by a partnership of federal, state and local organizations, was designed to create a trail capable of withstanding future disasters while preserving the experience that has made Hanging Lake one of Colorado's most popular destinations.
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And some satellites are even able to watch over humanmade disasters, such as this one that caught Blue Origin's rocket explosion from space.
Noun
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Hardening operations to withstand those catastrophes is imperative for lowering risk.
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For example, that the economy is cratering, as was the case in Detroit, or that demand to live somewhere is falling for other reasons, like a rise in crime or natural catastrophes.
Noun
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But the real solution is mandatory speed limits in whale hot spots, which have been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of tragedies like this.
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Over 100 mourners gathered last week around a memorial of flowers and photos to remember two young sisters slain by their father — another in a frustratingly long line of domestic violence tragedies.
Noun
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To grade the 50 states and the District of Columbia on their relative natural disaster risks, five measures were developed that account for the frequency and damage of calamities, weighted against population and geographic size.
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In early times, most humans barely paid attention to weather calamities because the region was so sparsely populated.
Cite this Entry
“Apocalypses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apocalypses. Accessed 25 Jun. 2026.
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