catastrophe

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 30, 2020 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>catastrophe</strong> &#149; \kuh-TASS-truh-fee\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> a momentous tragic event ranging from extreme misfortune to utter overthrow or ruin</p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> utter failure <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiasco">fiasco</a></p> <p><strong>3 a :</strong> a violent and sudden change in a feature of the earth</p> <p><strong>b :</strong> a violent usually destructive natural event (such as a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supernova">supernova</a>)</p> <p><strong>4 :</strong> the final event of the dramatic action especially of a tragedy</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"We are a nation that's used to <em>catastrophes</em>. We deal with avalanches, earthquakes, eruptions, and so on." — <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/08/how-iceland-beat-the-coronavirus">Alma Möller, quoted in <em>The New Yorker</em>, 1 June 2020</a></p> <p>"Be the challenge grave illness, divorce, a natural disaster or an economic meltdown, the rebound represents how we respond, how we stand strong in the face of <em>catastrophe</em>, how we refuse to give up." — <a href="https://www.designerstoday.com/business-of-interior-design/business-rebound-on-becoming-unstuck/"><em>Designers Today</em>, 27 May 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>When English speakers first borrowed the Greek word <em>katastrophē</em> (from <em>katastrephein</em>, meaning "to overturn") as <em>catastrophe</em> in the 1500s, they used it for the conclusion or final event of a dramatic work, especially of a tragedy. In time, <em>catastrophe</em> came to be used more generally of any unhappy conclusion, or disastrous or ruinous end. By the mid-18th century, it was being used to