CATASTROPHES Synonyms: 73 Similar and Opposite Words

catastrophes

noun

plural of catastrophe

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

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as in failures

something that has failed the movie was a catastrophe, nearly bankrupting the studio that produced it

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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 catastrophes With that in mind, here’s a look at three new books shaped by catastrophes large and small. — Lisa Henricksson, Air Mail, 17 Oct. 2026 This palette also has a latch tab that locks the lid in place, avoiding any potential catastrophes. — Elleanna Revell, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 Oct. 2026 Fee’s attempt to serve as savior will only trigger further catastrophes. — Garth Greenwell, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2026 An institution built explicitly to neutralize biological catastrophes is now at the center of one. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 5 Oct. 2026 With wars and climate catastrophes hitting a world still reeling from 7 million deaths caused by COVID-19, Shelley’s pandemic novel has perhaps never felt so relevant. — Eileen Hunt, Fortune, 28 Sep. 2026 Our task is to build the structures, the accountability mechanisms and the institutional discipline that ensure trust failures become governance data rather than governance catastrophes. — Albana Vrioni, Forbes.com, 28 Sep. 2026 Tuesday’s scene was a mixture of confusion and chaos with first responders fanned out across two catastrophes and television news teams desperately trying to find out whether their journalists were safe. — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026 Syria became one of the great human catastrophes of our time. — Ayman M. Mohyeldin, Vanity Fair, 11 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for catastrophes

Noun

Since 2024, the state and federal governments have spent over half a billion dollars on disasters in Ruidoso — nine times the village’s annual budget.

— Abe Streep, ProPublica, 21 Oct. 2026
These same companies continue to kill the clean energy that is not only cheaper, but try to side-step their glaring responsibility for the increasing cascade of climate disasters.

— Tom Tapp, Deadline, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of disasters

Noun

The feat concludes a pursuit that began in 2009, when Zhang first experimented with riding a motorcycle on water and overcame early failures to achieve his latest goal.

— Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 26 Oct. 2026
Neeley said the floodwaters were receding but left mud and silt, much of which has been contaminated with sewage because of failures at waste plants.

— ABC News, ABC News, 25 Oct. 2026

Definition of failures

Noun

There’s a lot of apocalypses happening now in this world, major ones.

— Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2026
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

Definition of apocalypses

Noun

By century’s end, however, the specter of famine had largely receded (aside from tragedies of war and misgovernment, no small caveat).

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2026
Investigators are still working to determine how Boahene was dragged by the train and ways to prevent similar tragedies.

— Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of tragedies

Noun

The protagonist becomes a wise-guy version of Benjamin’s Angel of History, watching calamities accumulate before his eyes.

— Alex Ross, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
To avert future calamities, the forest outside Bordeaux must be thinned and its fire breaks widened, said Arthur Guérin-Turcq, a Sorbonne University geographer whose family cultivates pines near Le Porge.

— Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of calamities

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catastrophe

catastrophes

catastrophic

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“Catastrophes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/catastrophes. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of catastrophes

noun

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