cataclysm
noun/ˈkætəklɪzəm/
/ˈkætəklɪzəm/
(formal)- a sudden disaster or a violent event that causes change, for example a flood or a war
- to survive the cataclysm of the Black Death
Word Originearly 17th cent. (originally denoting the biblical Flood described in Genesis): from French cataclysme, via Latin from Greek kataklusmos ‘deluge’, from kata- ‘down’ + kluzein ‘to wash’.
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cataclysm