apocalypses

noun

plural of apocalypse
as in disasters
a sudden violent event that brings about great loss or destruction the fear that the next global pandemic could be an apocalypse of biblical proportions

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of apocalypses 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, 16 Oct. 2025 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 The audience for 2025’s reel of zombie apocalypses lives in a world shaped, in part, by Americans’ refusal to accept an aging Joe Biden’s ineligibility for President. — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apocalypses
  1. disasters
  2. catastrophes
  3. tragedies
  4. calamities
Noun
  • Cheap financial capital has flooded into the industry, lowering the cost of protecting against disasters, but Bäte thinks the trend cannot continue forever.
    — Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 3 July 2026
  • City leaders recognize the difficulty for families and communities dealing with vacant disasters.
    — Bryant Reed, CBS News, 2 July 2026
Definition of disasters
Noun
  • Prominent voices fear that the end result of the transformative technology is a job bloodbath and national security catastrophes, while others believe a new era of productivity is ready to be unlocked, with society living longer and healthier lives.
    — Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 3 July 2026
  • Healthcare registers the effects of climate catastrophes, ecosystem failures and food shortages that also fuel political and social crises.
    — Ginny Whitelaw, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
Definition of catastrophes
Noun
  • Beyond the solidarity such tragedies inspire and the accompanying political rhetoric, Rodríguez has little room to turn away any government willing to lend a hand during this crisis.
    — Gonzalo Zegarra, CNN Money, 29 June 2026
  • Recent incidents across North Texas show just how quickly these tragedies unfold and why having a plan matters.
    — William Jones, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 June 2026
Definition of tragedies
Noun
  • There have been few comments about improvements or calamities, other than the usual notes that battery life was reduced immediately after installation, which is commonplace.
    — David Phelan, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
  • To grade the 50 states and the District of Columbia on their relative natural disaster risks, five measures were developed that account for the frequency and damage of calamities, weighted against population and geographic size.
    — Jonathan Lansner, Oc Register, 21 June 2026
Definition of calamities

Browse Nearby Words

apocalypse
apocalypses
apocalyptic
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Apocalypses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apocalypses. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on apocalypses

Nglish: Translation of apocalypses for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gambol

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All