Word Finder - catastrophe

definition

Any large and disastrous event of great significance

definition

A disaster beyond expectations

definition

The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot; the dénouement

definition

A type of bifurcation, where a system shifts between two stable states

Things may drag on perhaps till July, but then a catastrophe must come."

Every one felt that a catastrophe was approaching.

The catastrophe has been explained as a volcanic eruption, or an explosive outburst of gas and oil stored and accumulating at high pressure.

The 32-year-old detective with bright red crew cut and opened-collar sports shirt looked as if nothing short of a catastrophe would cause him a lick of concern.

The consequences of this catastrophe were felt far and wide, and in the spring of 1891 both the Banco Nacional and the Banco de la provincia de Buenos Aires were unable to meet their obligations.

The catastrophe was the greatest of its kind that has ever occurred in any country; the number of persons killed was approximately 150,000, while the injured were beyond calculation.

Delavigne, inspired by the catastrophe of 1815, wrote two impassioned poems, the first entitled Waterloo, the second, Devastation du musee, both written in the heat of patriotic enthusiasm, and teeming with popular political allusions.

The worse everything became, especially his own affairs, the better was Pierre pleased and the more evident was it that the catastrophe he expected was approaching.

The final catastrophe was now unavoidable.

But in proportion as an earlier date has become more probable for Homer, the hypothesis of Ionic origin has become less tenable, and the belief better founded (I) that the poems represent accurately a welldefined phase of culture in prehistoric Greece, and (2) that this " Homeric " or " Achaean " phase was closed by some such general catastrophe as is presumed by the legends.

The catastrophe of " the land of the north " is near to come; then the exiles of Zion shall stream back from all quarters, the converted heathen shall join them, Yahweh Himself will dwell in the midst of them, and even now He stirs Himself from His holy habitation.

Each of these closed with a physical catastrophe.

By this time Napoleon was tottering to his fall; shortly before the catastrophe of Elba he allowed the pope to return to the States of the Church.

The position of Poland was, consequently, much more advantageous than it had been on every other similar occasion, and if only the contending factions had been able to agree and unite, the final catastrophe might, perhaps, even now, have been averted.

According to Cassius Dio, a large number of the inhabitants were assembled in the theatre at the time of the catastrophe, but no bodies have been found there, and they were probably sought for and removed shortly afterwards.

The fire which broke out after the earthquake shock had subsided added to the horror of the catastrophe.

From the tribune of the Chamber he described the revolution of February as a "catastrophe," and he supported reactionary legislation, notably the bill (May 31, 1850) for the liinitation of the suffrage.

The recent exploration of a cemetery belonging to the close of the great palace period, and in a greater degree to the age succeeding the catastrophe, has now conclusively shown that there was no real break in the continuity of Minoan culture.

The site of the cities, the historicity of the events narrated of them and the nature of the catastrophe that destroyed them, are matters of hot dispute.

Quirotoa, still farther north, is supposed to have suffered a similar catastrophe.

A violent earthquake preceded the catastrophe, by which nine villages were destroyed.

It should be noticed that the present order of the narratives involves the theory that some catastrophe ensued after Ezr.

The catastrophe occurred in November 1841, when Sir Alexander Burnes was assassinated in the city of Kabul.

By any measure, the Second World War was the greatest man-made catastrophe of all time.

The surface tramway system of London cannot be complete, as, within an area roughly represented by the boroughs of Chelsea, Kensington and Fulham, the city of Westminster and a considerable district north thereof, and the city of London, the ' Charing Cross station was the scene of a remarkable catastrophe on the 5th of December 1905, when a large part of the roof collapsed, and the falling debris did very serious damage to the Avenue theatre, which stands close to the station at a lower level.

It is difficult in any case not to connect with this catastrophe the carrying away to Khani of the Marduk statue afterwards recovered by Agum, one of the earlier kings of the Kassite dynasty.

To prevent such a catastrophe Louis XVIII.

This catastrophe attracted renewed attention to the state of Stonehenge, and much discussion took place as to the taking of precautions against further decay.

But the catastrophe of her tragedy was at hand.

Dusty didn't know how they chose when to interfere with the mortal world, but when they did, it normally resulted in some sort of universal catastrophe, like the Schism that split the divine world from the physical one and nearly wiped out humanity and divinity alike.

But this Mogul visitation was most calamitous; forty persons, indeed, are stated to have alone survived the general massacre of 1232, and as a similar catastrophe overtook the city at the hands of Timur in 1398, when the local dynasty of Kurt, which had succeeded the Ghorides in eastern Khorasan, was put an end to, it is astonishing to find that early in the 15th century Herat was again flourishing and populous, and the favoured seat of the art and literature of the East.

Thus the Magyars were saddled with two rival kings with equally valid titles, which proved an even worse disaster than the Mohacs catastrophe; for in most of the counties of the unhappy kingdom desperadoes of every description plundered the estates of the gentry, and oppressed the common people, under the pretext that they were fighting the battles of the contending monarchs.

The union between a prince who physically was something less than a man and mentally little more than a child, and a princess of prodigious intellect and an insatiable love of enjoyment, was bound to end in a catastrophe.

In 1849 he was in the civil service of the revolutionary government, and after the final catastrophe returned to his native place, living as best he could on his small savings till 1850, when Lajos Tisza, the father of Kalman Tisza, the future prime minister, invited him to his castle at Geszt to teach his son Domokos the art of poetry.

Even before the final catastrophe the Spartans had reopened hostilities.

Scattered evidence suggests that the Edomites were responsible for a new catastrophe.

The history of these centuries is of fundamental importance in any attempt to " reconstruct " biblical history., The fall of Samaria and Judah was a literary as well as a political catastrophe, and precisely how much earlier material has been 6 Cf.

Since that catastrophe it has been rebuilt, and has not further suffered from its proximity to Etna.

But in November 1806, when Blucher, retiring from the catastrophe of Jena, had to capitulate in the vicinity of Lubeck, the town was sacked by the French.

But the text of Pliny the younger, where this account is given, has been subjected to various interpret ations; and from the comparison of other classical testimonies and the study of the excavations it has been concluded that it is impossible to determine the date of the catastrophe, though there are satisfactory arguments to justify the statement that the event took place in the autumn.

The operations were conducted entirely by him and were brilliantly successful, leading to the retreat of Lee from the lines of Petersburg and the final catastrophe of Appomattox Court House.

But the passage of the Stamp Act hastened the catastrophe and gave the leaders of the new combination, notably Henry, an opportunity to humiliate the British ministry, whom not even the tide-water party could defend.

The first sign of revival from the catastrophe of the invasions is the reorganization of the Imperial household under Charlemagne with the intention of establishing a more exact collection of revenue.

But some catastrophe befell the fleet, and shortly afterwards Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram had to face a revolt in which Edom and the men of Libnah (the Philistines) were concerned.

They are still suffering for the sins of their fathers, who perished in the catastrophe (verse 7).

And if at the very end of his stormy career he really found time and inclination to write anything of this nature, we may wonder why it was not included in the considerable and somewhat miscellaneous volume of his works, or at least mentioned in the chapters which relate to his public activity after the catastrophe.

When at last, after the catastrophe of Poltava (June 1709) and the flight into Turkey, he condescended to use diplomatic methods, it was solely to prolong, not to terminate, the war.

At his death in 338, imfnediately before the final catastrophe, the empire to all appearances was more powerful and more firmly established than it had been since the days of Xerxes.

In order to understand the apparently sudden collapse of Portuguese power in1578-1580it is necessary to examine certain facts and tendencies which from the first rendered a catastrophe inevitable.

His work was ruined in 1813 by the French under Vandamme, who destroyed his books, writings and observatory; he never recovered from the catastrophe, and died on the 29th of August 1816.