category five
4
6.3
- noun
- /ˈkætəˌɡɔri faɪv/
- Specialized
:
categoría cinco
- After reviewing the data, they confirmed that the storm had reached category five status, indicating extreme intensity.
- category five hurricane
Examples
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Hurricane Katrina was classified as a category five storm, with winds reaching 170 miles per hour.
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It's a deadly category five hurricane.
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Hurricane Mitch of 1998 was a Category Five hurricane at peak intensity over the western Caribbean.
Academic text (2005) -
Hurricane Gilbert of 1988 was a Category Five hurricane at peak intensity and is one of the strongest Atlantic tropical cyclones on record.
Academic text (2005) -
The meteorologist warned that a category five hurricane could lead to catastrophic damage along the coast.
How Severe
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase directly combines 'category' (a class or level) with the numeral 'five' to indicate the fifth level on a classification scale, so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes the (high) level five on a scale for storms. While the exact wind-speed threshold is not derivable from the words, the core idea of a numbered severity level is compositional and cross-linguistically common, making the expression readily understandable to B1 learners.
Etymology
Category five comes from a numbered rating for hurricanes: the word category means a class and five is the highest number on the scale. So, because it is the top rank, category five means a storm with very strong winds and 'catastrophic' damage.