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Cataclysm

//ˈkætəˌklɪzm̩// noun

Definitions

Noun

1
A sudden, violent event.
"While the disaster capitalism complex does not deliberately scheme to create cataclysms on which it feeds (though Iraq may be a notable exception), there is plenty of evidence that its component industries work very hard indeed to make that current disastrous trends continue unchallenged."
2
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune wordnet
3
A sudden and violent change in the earth's crust.
4
a sudden violent change in the earth's surface wordnet
5
A great flood.

Etymology

From French cataclysme, from Latin cataclysmus, from Ancient Greek κατακλυσμός (kataklusmós, “deluge, flood”), from κατακλύζω (kataklúzō, “to dash over, flood, deluge, inundate”), from κατά (katá, “downwards, towards”) + κλύζω (klúzō, “to wash off, to wash away, to dash over”).

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