1
as in disasters
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 failures
something that has failed
the movie was a catastrophe, nearly bankrupting the studio that produced it
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of catastrophes
An observer of catastrophes, come what may.
—
Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
Across their nearly 100-year football rivalry, USC and Notre Dame have only paused their annual matchup for global catastrophes like World War II and the Covid-19 pandemic.
—Austin Turner, CBS News, 22 Dec. 2025
Kevin Stefanski might be in his final days as the Cleveland Browns head coach because of the Deshaun Watson trade and all of the catastrophes that followed.
—Jason Lloyd, New York Times, 17 Dec. 2025
With both courtesies and catastrophes refusing to conform, the canton’s school board, publishers, and clergy were forced to produce multiple editions of primers, textbooks, and catechisms; sometimes five parallel print runs were needed for a population the size of a town.
—Simon Akam, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
The most severe of the parade's many catastrophes saw the Cat in the Hat balloon strike a streetlight at 72nd Street and Central Park West, causing a horizontal metal arm to snap off and fall onto the crowd below.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 27 Nov. 2025
Clara and Riley — with their big hearts and weak armor, untempered by irony, vulnerable to the catastrophes of disillusionment — might as well be our patron saints.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2025
But catastrophes also tend to reveal deficits in society, and the patterns of destruction and abandonment that followed the fire—which have roots in America’s past and its present—tell us something about the country’s future, too.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2025
While people’s claims history, inflation, higher labor and construction costs play into increases nationwide, Coloradans face the additional burden of living in a state where the risk is high of catastrophes wreaking billions of dollars in damage.
—Judith Kohler, Denver Post, 7 Nov. 2025
Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
Across their nearly 100-year football rivalry, USC and Notre Dame have only paused their annual matchup for global catastrophes like World War II and the Covid-19 pandemic.
—Austin Turner, CBS News, 22 Dec. 2025
Kevin Stefanski might be in his final days as the Cleveland Browns head coach because of the Deshaun Watson trade and all of the catastrophes that followed.
—Jason Lloyd, New York Times, 17 Dec. 2025
With both courtesies and catastrophes refusing to conform, the canton’s school board, publishers, and clergy were forced to produce multiple editions of primers, textbooks, and catechisms; sometimes five parallel print runs were needed for a population the size of a town.
—Simon Akam, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
The most severe of the parade's many catastrophes saw the Cat in the Hat balloon strike a streetlight at 72nd Street and Central Park West, causing a horizontal metal arm to snap off and fall onto the crowd below.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 27 Nov. 2025
Clara and Riley — with their big hearts and weak armor, untempered by irony, vulnerable to the catastrophes of disillusionment — might as well be our patron saints.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2025
But catastrophes also tend to reveal deficits in society, and the patterns of destruction and abandonment that followed the fire—which have roots in America’s past and its present—tell us something about the country’s future, too.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2025
While people’s claims history, inflation, higher labor and construction costs play into increases nationwide, Coloradans face the additional burden of living in a state where the risk is high of catastrophes wreaking billions of dollars in damage.
—Judith Kohler, Denver Post, 7 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for catastrophes
Noun
-
Excluding disasters, sudden surges of this magnitude in requests for food or any other need are rare at 211s, and can signal both public worry and need, as happened in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.—
Matthew W. Kreuter,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
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But Kalmaegi also collapsed flood-control infrastructure in the province that was ostensibly meant to protect citizens in such disasters.—
Chad de Guzman,
Time,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Thinking globally and acting locally means electing people of vision, not people who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag without a lobbyist lighting their way under the table, or down the wrong path where for-profit companies rule and teachers are scapegoated for society's failures.—
SHELLEY SMITH SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE,
Arkansas Online,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Despite multiple ongoing investigations, survivors say officials still lack answers about why response failures disproportionately affected west Altadena.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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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,
JSTOR Daily,
16 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Different tragedies, but the same grief for a community betrayed by the people who were supposed to protect and serve.—
Jennifer Brooks,
Mercury News,
9 Jan. 2026
-
The book captures powerfully the rich possibilities that lie between integrity and despair, as Sybil reckons with the fallout of her life’s tragedies.—
Shruti Mutalik,
Baltimore Sun,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Whereas much of the original play unfolds as a steady stream of callers to the Tesmans’ estate, DaCosta cleverly restages these various interpersonal calamities against the backdrop of a lavish party.—
Abby Monteil,
Them.,
28 Oct. 2025
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The piling on of hurdles, unforeseen challenges, and calamities is almost ridiculous.—
Frederick Dreier,
Outside,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Catastrophes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/catastrophes. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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