cataclysmically
1
9.5
- adverb
- /ˌkætəˈklɪzmɪkli/
:
catastróficamente
- As she stared in fascination at the immense, fantastic landscape of the gas giant, Comet Shoemaker-Levy flashed into the scene, shortly thereafter impacting cataclysmically with the big planet.
Examples
-
"Today's believers in a 2012 apocalypse," Greer writes, "have let themselves be drawn into buying the comforting fantasy that the world around them will suddenly and cataclysmically be replaced by a new world more to their liking."
Blog text (24) -
These analyses make sense, but only within the context of the campaign truly believing that they were safe in other crucial must-have states—a cataclysmically wrong assumption.
Blog text (2) -
It's hard to see people from your past... ...when your present is so cataclysmically screwed up, you know?
-
From the Abelam perspective, real change can only occur cataclysmically via a total restructuring of the world.
Academic text (1999) -
Though too young to understand it at the time, Ben was struck by the seemingly impossible fact that these were images of real things and that they were all mere specks of a cataclysmically immense reality he could never fully grasp or even accept.
-
ete sat at the table, looking cataclysmically bored, refusing to give the brochure more than a glance.
Fiction book (1999) -
While this wartime burst of research collapsed cataclysmically within a few years, Japan's academic tradition of climatic physiology resumed after the war.
Academic text (1991) -
And cataclysmically, along with the other major shifts of the late-capitalist, post-Cold War era, among them the end of the Westphalian international order and the metamorphosis of the nation-state.
Academic text (2010) -
The earthquake cataclysmically destroyed the city, leaving thousands homeless.
-
The company's sudden bankruptcy cataclysmically changed the job market in the region.
Synonyms
80
4.3
In a way that causes a very large and sudden change
7
7.2
In a way that causes very great harm or failure
6
5.6
In a way that causes great harm or failure
5
4.4
To do something very suddenly and with great force
3
4.2
In a way that causes harm or damage
3
6.7
In a way that causes great harm or damage
1
7.3
A way that makes someone feel very sad and defeated
1
7.9
In a way that makes people feel great shock or deep sadness
1
7.8
In a way that causes a lot of harm or loss
1
7.2
In a way that causes a very big, sudden change in people or places
In a very great and dramatic way
In a way that causes great harm or disaster
In a way that causes very large changes in society, the economy, or politics
In a very obvious or strong way
Antonyms
How Disastrous
Surface Forms
Morphology
cataclysmically = cataclysmic (transparent) = cataclysm + ic + ally
Formed by regular derivation: cataclysm (noun) + -ic -> cataclysmic (adj) + -ally -> cataclysmically (adv); the meaning follows predictably from the base.
Etymology
Cataclysmically comes from the noun cataclysm, built from the Greek part kata- ('down') and a root that means 'wash' or 'flood', giving the image of a great flood washing things away. So when something happens cataclysmically, it happens like a huge flood — it causes very large, violent change or damage.