[kuh-tas-truh-fee] 
| 1. | a sudden and widespread disaster: the catastrophe of war. |
| 2. | any misfortune, mishap, or failure; fiasco: The play was so poor our whole evening was a catastrophe. |
| 3. | a final event or conclusion, usually an unfortunate one; a disastrous end: the great catastrophe of the Old South at Appomattox. |
| 4. | (in a drama) the point at which the circumstances overcome the central motive, introducing the close or conclusion; dénouement. Compare catastasis, epitasis, protasis. |
| 5. | Geology. a sudden, violent disturbance, esp. of a part of the surface of the earth; cataclysm. |
| 6. | Also called catastrophe function. Mathematics. any of the mathematical functions that describe the discontinuities that are treated in catastrophe theory. |
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