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# catastrophic

adjective (catastrophic, more catastrophic)

«catastrophic» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Catastrophic means causing terrible damage, harm or suffering; a disaster. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catastrophic/#m1)
2. Catastrophic is also used for something very bad or a total failure, sometimes with a joking tone. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catastrophic/#m2)

### In the lessons

In geography and science: catastrophic floods, earthquakes, fires and storms; a catastrophic asteroid hit may have ended the dinosaurs. In news and history: catastrophic events and failures. In everyday life people say «catastrophic» to exaggerate («My cake was catastrophic!»).

### Examples

- The flood was catastrophic for the town. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catastrophic/#x1)
- A catastrophic fire destroyed the forest. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catastrophic/#x2)
- Losing the map would be catastrophic for the explorers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catastrophic/#x3)
- My first try at baking bread was catastrophic! [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catastrophic/#x4)
- Scientists warn that some storms can be catastrophic. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catastrophic/#x5)
- The bridge suffered catastrophic damage in the earthquake. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catastrophic/#x6)

### Note

Noun: catastrophe (pronounced «ka-TAS-tro-fee», four syllables). Adverb: catastrophically. Stronger than «bad» or «serious»; similar to «disastrous». Use it carefully: it means very great harm.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «catastrophic» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/catastrophic/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«catastrophic» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/catastrophic.html) on Mova free.