catastrophic

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek καταστροφικός (katastrophikós).^[1] By surface analysis, catastrophe +‎ -ic.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kætəˈstɹɒfɪk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, dialects of Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌkætəˈstɹɑfɪk/, [ˌkæɾəˈstɹɑfɪk]
• (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA^(key): /ˌkætəˈstɹɒfɪk/, [ˌkæɾəˈstɹɒfɪk]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /kætəˈstɹɔfɪk/, /kæɾəˈstɹɔfɪk/, /kætəˈstɹɒfɪk/, /kæɾəˈstɹɒfɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɒfɪk

catastrophic (comparative more catastrophic, superlative most catastrophic)

1. Of or pertaining to a catastrophe.
2. Disastrous; ruinous.
   • 2009: Stuart Heritage, Hecklerspray, Friday the 22^nd of May in 2009 at 1 o’clock p.m., “Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About”

     The reason why Jon & Kate Plus 8 is such a hot topic is because it might all be a sham. It’s been claimed that Jon has a string of mistresses, that Kate had an affair with her bodyguard and that Baby Number Six is actually a shaved Ewok with a catastrophic heroin addiction. Or something.

   • 2024 September 14, Katie Hunt, “New evidence upends contentious Easter Island theory, scientists say”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Some experts, such as geographer Jared Diamond in his 2005 book, “Collapse,” used Easter Island as a cautionary tale of how the exploitation of limited resources can result in catastrophic population decline, ecological devastation and the destruction of a society through infighting.

3. From which recovery is impossible.

   catastrophic failure

• catastrophal

• anastrophic