noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The hypothesis that life-exterminating events such as gamma-ray bursts have acted as a galactic regulation mechanism in the Milky Way upon the emergence of complex life in its habitable zone. uncountable

Etymology

From neo- + catastrophism.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.