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
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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
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More than a year after the disaster, which killed all but two people on board, much is still unclear about why the passenger jet crash landed.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
11 Jan. 2026 -
The councilwoman emphasized that every neighborhood in Los Angeles is just one disaster from devastation.—
City News Service,
Daily News,
10 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Patients’ failure to take their medicine as prescribed is a major challenge that contributes to hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths and billions of dollars in health care costs annually.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Jan. 2026
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Continue reading … SKIDDING TO SAFETY – All plane tires burst on Boeing 767 during harrowing landing failure.—
,
FOXNews.com,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
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In the fictional story of the Shakespeare family, their family tragedy leads Shakespeare to write Hamlet.—
Yamillah Hurtado,
PEOPLE,
12 Jan. 2026
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And that would be the real tragedy.—
Nicole Sganga,
CBS News,
11 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Netflix 'The Life of Chuck' Based on the Stephen King novella, director Mike Flanagan's supremely joyous character study – the best movie of 2025 – involves an apocalypse, multiple dance extravaganzas and a haunted attic.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
9 Jan. 2026
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That goal is seemingly the only hope for humanity against the decay of everything around them and the increasingly violent nature of many remaining humans (think early Mad Max apocalypse sensibility).—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
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What calamity will summon the firefighters and medics of Station 118 to the scene?—
Rachel Kurzius,
Washington Post,
7 Jan. 2026
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Not so much for most of the thousands of people displaced a year ago by the twin fire calamities that hit the east and west ends of Los Angeles County.—
James Rainey,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Catastrophe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/catastrophe. Accessed 14 Jan. 2026.
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