Link Centre Dictionary

catastrophic

ca·tast·rop·hic

UK/kætəˈstɹɒfɪk/ US/ˌkætəˈstɹɑfɪk/ fairly common

adjective

1.

extremely harmful; bringing physical or financial ruin

  • “a catastrophic depression”
  • “catastrophic illness”
  • “a ruinous course of action”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek καταστροφικός (katastrophikós). By surface analysis, catastrophe + -ic.

Phrases

  • catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome
  • catastrophic backtracking
  • catastrophic failure
  • catastrophic forgetting
  • catastrophic interference
  • catastrophic kill
  • catastrophic mortality
  • catastrophic moult

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.