# catastrophism

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. The doctrine that sudden catastrophes, rather than continuous change, cause the main features of the Earth's crust.
2. The doctrine that, in addition to the more gradual effects of evolution, huge catastrophic events shape the earth's flora and fauna by causing major die-offs which make way for the emergence of new organisms.
3. The practice or tendency of catastrophizing, regarding bad things as catastrophic.

## Etymology
From catastrophe + -ism, coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1837.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/catastrophism