1
as in disaster
a sudden violent event that brings about great loss or destruction
more than one natural catastrophe has threatened to destroy their farm over the years
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in failure
something that has failed
the movie was a catastrophe, nearly bankrupting the studio that produced it
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for catastrophe
Noun
-
One compelling example in the education space that Parker-Holder and Rivas described was allowing students to get a sense of what working in different professions might be like, such as assisting in disaster recovery.—
Abhimanyu Ghoshal,
New Atlas,
30 Jan. 2026 -
The action also authorizes the use of disaster emergency funds and allows the OEM to mobilize state resources, make contracts and awards using emergency procurement procedures and encumber and expend funds as determined by the director of the OEM.—
Alexandra Koch,
FOXNews.com,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
That last-minute development is reviving debate about the extent of state support for Vanke, one of the last major developers to have avoided an outright default after a broader property market slump sparked record debt failures in recent years.—
Bloomberg News,
Bloomberg,
28 Jan. 2026
-
Poetry is a testament to the failure of wolves.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The tragedy marked the second fatal incident involving North Texas students during the winter storm.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
28 Jan. 2026
-
The letters had been dispatched from Cartagena de Indias, the rich port city on the coast of what is now Colombia, just days after what appeared to have been a horrific tragedy.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
While the ice apocalypse has wrapped up, dangerously cold air still has a grip on Texas.—
Mary Wasson,
Austin American Statesman,
26 Jan. 2026
-
Created in 1947, the Doomsday Clock was created to convey threats to humanity and the Earth using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero).—
Amaris Encinas,
USA Today,
24 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Here’s where naming a Wall Street pro who’s a master of spotting where danger’s building may prove a hedge against a future calamity.—
Shawn Tully,
Fortune,
28 Jan. 2026
-
What Trump is most certainly reviewing is the viability of Noem as a Cabinet secretary, who has rapidly become a scapegoat for the predictable calamities of the high-visibility deployment of border guards as SWAT troops in urban centers.—
Chris Stirewalt,
The Hill,
27 Jan. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Catastrophe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/catastrophe. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
