cat·a·stroph·ic

(kăt′ə-strŏf′ĭk)

adj.

1. Of, relating to, or involving a catastrophe.

2. Relating to a serious illness or injury that results in a long period of incapacity and often high treatment costs.

cat′a·stroph′i·cal·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

catastrophic - extremely harmful; bringing physical or financial ruin; "a catastrophic depression"; "catastrophic illness"; "a ruinous course of action"

ruinous

harmful - causing or capable of causing harm; "too much sun is harmful to the skin"; "harmful effects of smoking"

catastrophic

adjective disastrous, devastating, tragic, calamitous, cataclysmic A tidal wave caused catastrophic damage.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

catastrophic

adjective

Causing ruin or destruction:

calamitous, cataclysmal, cataclysmic, destructive, disastrous, fatal, fateful, ruinous.

Translations

كارِثي، مُسَبِّبٌ للفَواجِع

katastrofálníkatastrofický

katastrofal

katastrophal

ολέθριος

hukatuslik

catastrophique

katasztrofális

stórslysalegur; ógæfu-

catastrofico

felâkete neden olankorkunç

大灾难的

catastrophic

[ˌkætəˈstrɒfɪk] ADJ → catastrófico

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

catastrophic

[ˌkætəˈstrɒfɪk] adj → catastrophique

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

catastrophic

adj → katastrophal; event, decision, course also → verhängnisvoll

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

catastrophic

[ˌkætəˈstrɒfɪk] adj → catastrofico/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

catastrophe

(kəˈtӕstrəfi) noun

a sudden great disaster. earthquakes and other natural catastrophes; Her brother's death was a catastrophe for the family.

catastrophic (kӕtəˈstrofik) adjective

ˌcataˈstrophically adverb

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Some cling to you in woebegone misery; others come back fiercely and weirdly, like ghouls bent upon sucking your strength away; others, again, have a catastrophic splendour; some are unvenerated recollections, as of spiteful wild-cats clawing at your agonized vitals; others are severe, like a visitation; and one or two rise up draped and mysterious, with an aspect of ominous menace.

View in context

Most catastrophic of all, however, was the fact that Dag Daughtry was three quarts short of his daily allowance and did not dare break into the rent money which was all that stood between him and his family and the street.

View in context

He knew the prod of impulse to join in this rush away from some unthinkably catastrophic event that impended and that stirred his intuitive apprehensions of death.

View in context

By the paradox already noted, articles of valuable intelligence and enthusiasm were presented with headlines apparently written by an illiterate maniac, headlines such as "Darwin Chews Dirt; Critic Boulnois says He Jumps the Shocks"--or "Keep Catastrophic, says Thinker Boulnois." And Mr Calhoun Kidd, of the Western Sun, was bidden to take his butterfly tie and lugubrious visage down to the little house outside Oxford where Thinker Boulnois lived in happy ignorance of such a title.

"I won't keep you long from `The Bloody Thumb' or any other catastrophic affairs," said Father Brown, smiling.

View in context

And from this paper my brother read that catastrophic despatch of the Commander-in-Chief:

View in context

There was nothing stable in the anarchic flux of affairs that swept her on she knew not to what catastrophic end.

View in context

Mr Verloc had never expected to have to face it on account of death, whose catastrophic character cannot be argued away by sophisticated reasoning or persuasive eloquence.

View in context

Had he been informed by an indisputable authority that the end of the world was to be finally accomplished by a catastrophic disturbance of the atmosphere, he would have assimilated the information under the simple idea of dirty weather, and no other, because he had no experience of cataclysms, and belief does not necessarily imply comprehension.

View in context

A minority of patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome present with an acute and devastating syndrome termed "catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome" characterized by multiple simultaneous vascular occlusions throughout the body.

Catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome in leprosy

Catastrophic relief payments will be made solely to Illinois hospitals that are not publicly owned or operated and are not part of a multiple hospital network.

Illinois provides catastrophic relief payments to hospitals