Relating to or of the nature of a catastrophe; involving sudden, violent, and usually damaging change or disaster.
From Greek 'catastrophe' (kata- 'down' + -strophe 'a turning'), meaning a sudden reversal or turning downward. The suffix '-al' makes it an adjective describing things of this nature.
The word 'catastrophe' originally meant any sudden plot twist in Greek drama—it wasn't necessarily bad until European thinkers associated downward turns with disaster, and now the word always carries a sense of doom.
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