: a terrible disaster
[count]
- The oil spill was an environmental catastrophe.
- Experts fear a humanitarian catastrophe if food isn’t delivered to the refugees soon.
- global/nuclear/economic catastrophe
[noncount]
- an area on the brink of catastrophe
— catastrophic /kætəˈstrɑfɪk/ adjective
- The effect of the war on the economy was catastrophic.
- a catastrophic drought
— catastrophically ˌ/kætəˈstrɑfɪkli/ adverb
- The dam failed catastrophically, flooding the entire valley.