cataclysmal

adjective

variants or cataclysmic
1
as in disastrous
bringing about ruin or misfortune a cataclysmal decision to plunge the nation into war

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2
as in devastating
causing or tending to cause destruction a cataclysmal landslide that virtually wiped out the village

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in turbulent
marked by sudden or violent disturbance the French Revolution was one of the great cataclysmal events in modern history

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cataclysmal But the shockwaves of this cataclysmic blast will stretch far beyond the fifth planet. — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 23 July 2026 The pound’s loss of reserve currency status wasn’t a cataclysmic event but a slow decline over decades. — Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, Fortune, 17 July 2026 Despite ample warnings from the National Weather Service that potentially cataclysmic winds were bound for the city in the heart of its fire season, Bass headed to Ghana for a diplomatic event and was in Africa as the city burned. — John Scott Lewinski, The Washington Examiner, 11 July 2026 The earliest Daoist community, known as the Celestial Masters, believed that their founder, Zhang Daoling, had made a special contract with the deified Laozi that would protect them through a cataclysmic end of times. — Michael Naparstek, The Conversation, 6 July 2026 This has been a cataclysmic failure of his making. — NBC news, 21 June 2026 Amend and extend The situation in private credit has, so far, been a sort of slow-moving train wreck as opposed to a cataclysmic derailing. — Tobias Burns, CNBC, 28 May 2026 That world ended in cataclysmic war, the one that claimed the life of Alfred Louis Webb and so many others. — Literary Hub, 27 May 2026 While the Zizian ideology is extremist in nature, a less extreme version of the same fears surrounding the cataclysmic potential of AI are a common concern among AI alignment experts, machine-learning engineers, and even frontier AI companies. — Nate Anderson, ArsTechnica, 26 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cataclysmal
  1. disastrous
  2. devastating
  3. turbulent
  4. fatal
  5. destructive
  6. unfortunate
  7. catastrophic
Adjective
  • Biden eventually withdrew from the 2024 presidential race after a disastrous debate performance.
    — Nina Totenberg, NPR, 25 July 2026
  • Lawmakers assumed the good investment returns would keep coming, which proved disastrous.
    — Zachary Christensen, Oc Register, 24 July 2026
Definition of disastrous
Adjective
  • What began as one employee's devastating loss quickly grew into a community-wide effort to help earthquake victims in Venezuela.
    — Jasmine Arenas, CBS News, 31 July 2026
  • Robert Bush, 48, was sentenced at Hull Crown Court in northeastern England after a five-day hearing in which more than 200 victims described the devastating impact of his crimes.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 31 July 2026
Definition of devastating
Adjective
  • Eric McAlister’s leadership for Alamo Bowl McAlister worked hard to distance himself from that turbulent year and emerged as one of TCU’s most important leaders last season.
    — Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 July 2026
  • People reach for these tools when markets turn turbulent, which is when automated discipline helps most and a panicked move costs most.
    — Pawan Jain, The Conversation, 29 July 2026
Definition of turbulent
Adjective
  • Legal experts cast doubt Monday on Bryan Kohberger’s petition to withdraw his guilty plea in the fatal stabbings of four University of Idaho students in 2022.
    — Emanuella Grinberg, NBC news, 28 July 2026
  • Tasmanian devils suffer from Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD), a highly fatal cancer spread by biting, which has devastated their population and surprisingly arose twice.
    — John Drake, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026
Definition of fatal
Adjective
  • Russia withdrew from the convention in 2025 following denunciations by other Ramsar members of the war in Ukraine and its destructive effects on wetlands in that country.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 July 2026
  • Burmese pythons — destructive invasive snakes with few natural predators in Florida — have developed a new foothold outside the Everglades.
    — Sarah Perkel, USA Today, 24 July 2026
Definition of destructive
Adjective
  • No, this unfortunate moniker represents the lack of attention to and awareness of the disease.
    — Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
  • Typically, when rookies put up gaudy numbers in Las Vegas, their stats are accompanied by unfortunate shooting percentages or a bevy of turnovers, but that wasn’t the case for Burries.
    — Eric Nehm, New York Times, 19 July 2026
Definition of unfortunate
Adjective
  • As humanity contemplates the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, Sulej says the story of the Mastodonsaurus offers some hope.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 22 July 2026
  • The last major hurricane to hit Miami-Dade County was the catastrophic Hurricane Andrew in 1992, but the city did not take a direct hit.
    — Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 21 July 2026
Definition of catastrophic

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cataclysmal
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Cite this Entry

“Cataclysmal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cataclysmal. Accessed 2 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of cataclysmal for Spanish Speakers

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