catastrophized
UK/kəˈstɹɒfəˌsaɪzd/US/kəˈstɹɑfəˌsaɪzd/
catastrophized is the simple past and past participle of catastrophize.
Meaning of catastrophize
Verb
catastrophize (third-person singular simple present catastrophizes, present participle catastrophizing, simple past and past participle catastrophized)
- To regard a bad situation as if it were disastrous or catastrophic.
- To expose a behavior pattern of seeking the worst interpretation and magnifying the disagreeable outcomes (of).
- Particularly likely to overreact are those who tend to catastrophize (Ellis, 1962) and those who have Type A personalities (Friedman & Rosenman, 1974).1947, Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, University of Michigan Research Center for Group Dynamics, Human Relations
- Synonyms:
- awfulize
- To end a comedy.
Adjective
catastrophized (comparative more catastrophized, superlative most catastrophized)
- Exposing catastrophizing attitude.
- The public is much too bewildered, catastrophized, and morbidly concerned about the symptoms of COVID-19.2022 May 26, Xue Lan, Han Yu, Lei Cui, “Application of Telemedicine in COVID-19: A Bibliometric Analysis”, in Frontiers in Public Health, →DOI
Forms of catastrophized
| comparative | more catastrophized |
|---|---|
| superlative | most catastrophized |
Questions about catastrophized
- What does catastrophized mean?
- Catastrophized means exposing catastrophizing attitude.
- What is catastrophized the simple past and past participle of?
- Catastrophized is the simple past and past participle of catastrophize.
- What part of speech is catastrophized?
- Catastrophized is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce catastrophized?
- Catastrophized is pronounced /kəˈstɹɑfəˌsaɪzd/ (US).
Words near catastrophized in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: catastrophized (page history and authors); catastrophize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “catastrophized.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catastrophized. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
