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 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 Returns, however, can be negative in a year when there is a much higher than average incidence of catastrophes and insurance claims have to be paid out. — Cheryl Winokur Munk, CNBC, 10 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for catastrophes

Noun

Its chief instructor, Wang Kuanghan, has said plans are underway to open five more centers in China within three years, expanding the simulations to other disasters, including fires and earthquakes.

— Lauryn Higgins, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
The administration initially talked about abolishing the agency, arguing that states and communities could deal with disasters on their own.

— Dana R. Fisher, The Conversation, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of disasters

Noun

The question confronting Israel and its international partners is not simply whether money should flow into Gaza, but also who controls it—and whether the next arrangement will avoid the failures of the last.

— Eric Cortellessa, Time, 18 Oct. 2026
The author argued that the unrest reflected deeper failures by France’s political establishment.

— Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 18 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

Prime Minister Mark Carney called the blaze one of the worst peacetime tragedies to strike Canada's armed forces on home soil, according to Reuters.

— Stephen Sorace , Sophia Compton, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2026
What happened to Gates is one of several tragedies involving postal workers in extreme Texas heat in recent years.

— Ginger Allen, CBS News, 14 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 21 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of catastrophes

noun

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