Other forms: cataclysms
A cataclysm is a violent upheaval that changes everything. A political cataclysm, the cataclysm of war, an economic cataclysm.
It is the largest word of its kind and belongs to events that end an order rather than shake it. The Greek behind it means a flood, and the first cataclysm anybody meant was Noah's.
1nouncataclysmA violent upheaval that changes everything.
“The war was a cataclysm that swept away the old order across Europe.”
cataclysm is a disaster.
The Greek is washing down: a flood that takes everything with it. A cataclysm is that, whether or not any water is involved.
hooks ontoflood
Greek kataklysmos means a deluge, from kataklyzein, to flood over.
Ancient Greek
κατακλυσμός — deluge, flood
Latin
cataclysmus
French
cataclysme
English, today
cataclysm
Built from
From French cataclysme, from Latin cataclysmus, from Ancient Greek κατακλυσμός (“deluge, flood”), from κατακλύζω (“to dash over, flood, deluge, inundate”), from κατά (“downwards, towards”) + κλύζω (“to wash off, to wash away, to dash over”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA