Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use catastrophe in a sentence

39 example sentences · noun

Catastrophe means any large and disastrous event of great significance. Example: “The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophe.”

Examples of catastrophe by meaning

nounAny large and disastrous event of great significance.

  • The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophe.
  • Between these high lights accumulated disaster, social catastrophe.1913, H. G. Wells, “The New Source of Energy”, in The World Set Free, New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, pages 54–55
  • The full catastrophe.1964, Nikos Kazantzakis, Michael Cacoyannis, Zorba the Greek, spoken by Alexis Zorba (Anthony Quinn)

More sentences with catastrophe

  • Natural catastrophes plagued the colonists till they abandoned the pestilent marshland.From the entry plague
  • This also happened after the military catastrophe of the Ukrainian Balakliia offensive.2024 September 6th, Torsten Heinrich M.A. (channel name: “Military & History”), Russia’s Problem: Too few Soldiers!, via YouTube…. From the entry Balakliia
  • In general, unlike many on the political right, eco-fascists concede the reality of looming ecological catastrophe.2019 March 19, Jason Wilson, “Eco-fascism is undergoing a revival in the fetid culture of the extreme right”, in The Guardian. From the entry ecofascism
  • Even so, the rule of the Frankish kings was not all catastrophe.2006, Andrew Hussey, “Sea Gods”, in Paris: The Secret History, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury USA, published 2007, →ISBN, part one (The Old…. From the entry heirling
  • But bibliothetical catastrophes continued throughout Chinese history, destroying countless thousands of works.1999 March, Susan Whitfield, “In praise of the plagiarist”, in Index on Censorship, volume 28, number 2. From the entry bibliothetical
  • Johnson always announced the onset of catastrophe with the statement: "The ox is in the ditch!"1987 March 6, George Reedy, “Can the President Still Lead?”, in New York Times, retrieved 07 Nov 2008. From the entry ox is in the ditch
  • The victims of the catastrophe are, like hostages, stand-ins for the original enemy.1986, John Money, Lovemaps, page 92. From the entry symphorophilia
  • Thus a catastrophe to the nose in the physical sense is extremely regrettable.1963, Mother India: Monthly Review of Culture - Volume 15, page 38. From the entry miscompliment
  • When we took office, we inherited a total catastrophe.2026 July 31, Donald J. Trump, quotee, “President Trump Hosts Historic Cabinet Meeting at Camp David”, in The White House, archived from…. From the entry inherit
  • This is climate change in action, and pretending we aren’t experiencing a climate catastrophe right now is dangerously irresponsible.2022 March 4, Eddie Lloyd, “The PM calls this a natural disaster – it’s not natural, it’s climate change smashing down our doors”, in The…. From the entry climate catastrophe
  • Towers attributed the whole catastrophe to the decision to put the carriers under the command of a black shoe like Kinkaid.2022, Craig L. Symonds, Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay, page 189. From the entry black shoe
  • In this way the doomsday argument began as a secret, almost samizdat doctrine, known to a few as the “Carter catastrophe.”2019, William Poundstone, The Doomsday Calculation […] , Little, Brown, →ISBN. From the entry samizdat
  • We knew that the direct and indirect schemes of the DIA, its thick bozone, had created our intergenerational catastrophes.2015, Elaine Coburn, edited by Emma LaRocque, More Will Sing Their Way to Freedom: Indigenous Resistance and Resurgence, Fernwood…. From the entry bozone
  • Even BP fall guy Tony Hayward, after some early happy talk, admitted that the spill was an "environmental catastrophe."2010 July 29, Michael Grunwald, “The BP Spill: Has the Damage Been Exaggerated?”, in Time, retrieved 05 Aug 2014. From the entry happy talk
  • Why can't "Twihaters" like Kim and me just look away from the catastrophe already and find something else to mock?2009 December 23, JoSelle Vanderhooft, “Sparkly Vampires Are Funny”, in QSaltLake Magazine, page 20. From the entry Twihater
  • Hard push factors include war, starvation and environmental catastrophes, while soft push factors persecution, poverty and social loneliness.2005, Stephen Codrington, “Population Change”, in Planet Geography, 3rd edition, Sydney: Solid Star Press, →ISBN, page 11. From the entry push factor
  • Their catastrophe stemmed from disregarding Christian doctrine: radix malorum est cupiditas (greed is the root of all evil).1974 November 11, Paul Gray, “Books: Notable: Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone 342 Pages. Houghton Mifflin. $8.95. [review]”, in Time, New…. From the entry moral compass
  • Name other great catastrophes this world has seen, the floods, the fires, the earthquakes, plague or famine or drouth.1965, Marguerite Young, Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, Scribner, page 174. From the entry drouth
  • Events were soon to prove false those predictions of catastrophe, predictions of a fate that was forewished rather than foreseen.1955, William White Craik, Bryn Roberts and the National Union of Public Employees. From the entry forewish
  • Even an uncanny supra-natural sense of natural impendings, catastrophe, earthquake and flood, lacking in man, is found in simpler creatures.1934, Arabella Kenealy, The Human Gyroscope. From the entry impending
  • It doubles itself in the middle of his life, reflects itself in another, repeats itself, protasis, epitasis, catastasis, catastrophe.1922, James Joyce, Ulysses. From the entry protasis
  • This was only the latest internet-based catastrophe caused by a mischief of rats (yes, that's what a group of rats is called).2026 April 11, Aaron Greenbaum, “Rats Are Wrecking Fiber Optic Internet Cables – And It's A Bigger Problem Than You Think”, in BGR…. From the entry mischief
  • One option is reinsurance and another is a catastrophe bond, which pays out a specific amount if damage reaches a particularly severe level.2025 December 1, Leslie Kaufman, “How ‘Super Roofs’ Reward Insurers, Cat Bond Investors and Homeowners. Investors snapped up a catastrophe…. From the entry reinsurance
  • I don’t want to suggest that any attempt to onshore production will doom America to runaway costs, supply-chain catastrophes, and frayed global alliances.2023 February 8, Derek Thompson, “Don’t ‘Buy American’”, in The Atlantic. From the entry onshore
  • I soon found out it was a common belief among doomers, or people who believe a global catastrophe will happen within the next few years.2015 January 31, Dylan Evans, “I quit my job to set up a post-apocalyptic commune”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN…. From the entry doomer
  • Autoassassinophilia (arousal from putting oneself in a position to be killed) and symphorophilia (arousal by accidents or catastrophes) are paraphilias of the sacrificial type.2008, Anil Aggrawal, Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects of Sexual Crimes and Unusual Sexual Practices, page 17. From the entry symphorophilia
  • What seems a minor complication to the anesthetist, such as the dislodgement of a tooth, may seem a catastrophe to the patient.1981, Robert C. Brown, Perchance to Dream: the patient's guide to anesthesia, →ISBN, page 57. From the entry dislodgement
  • Confronted with such a word as "catastrophe," Durante runs amok and produces "catastroscope," which the late Robert Benchley argued was a great improvement.1947 October, Cameron Shipp, "America's No. 1 Clown" Coronet vol. 22 no. 10 p. 17. From the entry catastroscope
  • Speaking as he met US secretary of state Anthony Blinken in Jordan, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said a "forced displacement" would amount to a "second Nakba", or catastrophe.2023 October 14, “Residents flee Gaza City in fear”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1. From the entry nakba
  • To avoid catastrophe, the brain has its trusty control centre, the hypothalamus, which tells the body to cool itself by sweating or to warm itself by shivering.2019, Bill Bryson, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, Black Swan (2020), page 217. From the entry hypothalamus
  • On the one hand, 'we'll all be rooned', it is such a catastrophe; and on the other, let's get to it, there's still so much to be done.2014, Timothy Neale, Crystal McKinnon, Eve Vincent, History, Power, Text: Cultural Studies and Indigenous Studies, page 265. From the entry rooned
  • Eventually, a renewed edifice may grow large enough even to bury its somma, or sommas, completely, leaving no clue in its shape to a history of former catastrophe(s).2013, John P. Lockwood, Richard W. Hazlett, Volcanoes: Global Perspectives. From the entry somma
  • The heat input to polar areas prevents this global cold trap catastrophe from happening, but during ice ages, significant capture of the Earth's water in polar areas will occur.2008, Donald Rapp, Assessing Climate Change, →ISBN, page 24. From the entry cold trap
  • It has been remarked that all technology is a Faustian bargain: one obtains conveniences and sometimes luxuries, but in exchange one gets an increased potential for catastrophe.1974 October, Joel Primack, Frank von Hippel, “Nuclear Reactor Safety: The Origins and Issues of a Vital Debate”, in Samuel H. Day, Jr.…. From the entry Faustian bargain
  • The potential precariousness of the alliance is highlit by the catastrophe of its abrupt ending in the next generation, after the deaths of the two principals.1967, Alexander C. Soper, “A pictorial biography of Prince Shotoku”, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. From the entry highlit
  • One of the most instructive attractions on the Midway is the scenograph of the Johnstown Flood, which vividly illustrates one of the most appalling catastrophes in our country's history.1900 September, Transportation, page 22. From the entry scenograph

Meaning of catastrophe

  1. noun Any large and disastrous event of great significance.
  2. noun A disaster beyond expectations.
  3. noun The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot; the dénouement.

Full definition of catastrophe

Questions about catastrophe in a sentence

How do you use catastrophe in a sentence?
Catastrophe is used as a noun. For example: “The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophe.”
What is a short sentence with catastrophe?
“The full catastrophe.”
What does catastrophe mean?
Catastrophe means any large and disastrous event of great significance.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catastrophe (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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