cat·a·clysm

[kat-uh-kliz-uhm]
noun
1.
any violent upheaval, especially one of a social or political nature.
2.
Physical Geography. a sudden and violent physical action producing changes in the earth's surface.
3.
an extensive flood; deluge.

Origin:
1625–35; < Late Latin cataclysmos (Vulgate) < Greek kataklysmós flood (akin to kataklýzein to flood), equivalent to kata- cata- + klysmós a washing

cataclysm, catechism.


1. See disaster.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
cataclysm (ˈkætəˌklɪzəm) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a violent upheaval, esp of a political, military, or social nature
2.  a disastrous flood; deluge
3.  geology another name for catastrophe
 
[C17: via French from Latin, from Greek kataklusmos deluge, from katakluzein to flood, from kluzein to wash]
 
cata'clysmic
 
adj
 
cata'clysmal
 
adj
 
cata'clysmically
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

cataclysm
1633, from Fr. cataclysme, from L. cataclysmos, from Gk. kataklysmos, from kata "down" + klyzein "to wash." Cataclysmic is attested from 1851.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
Occasionally, landmark legislation arises from something less than a social
  cataclysm.
One is that they formed along with the stars long ago, and somehow survived
  this cataclysm.
But that is not the case with the devastating economic cataclysm that lies
  ahead.
It's that once-in-a-lifetime cataclysm you can't possibly prepare for, because
  you could never predict it would happen.
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