Skip to main content

Sage Social Science Thesaurus

Search from vocabulary

Content language

Concept information

... > social science subjects > politics and international relations > governance > crisis management > issues in crisis management > definition of catastrophe
... > social science subjects > business and management > management settings > business management > governance > crisis management > issues in crisis management > definition of catastrophe

Preferred term

definition of catastrophe  

Definition

  • In the disasters literature there is controversy about whether the term catastrophe can be differentiated from disaster or whether they are synonyms. The word catastrophe, which first appeared in the English language in the 1500s, comes from the ancient Greek word katastrophe, meaning “overturning” or “sudden turn,” and its Latin derivative catastropha. [Source: Encyclopedia of Crisis Management; Catastrophe, Definition of]

Broader concept

Belongs to group

URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/definition_of_catastrophe

Download this concept:

RDF/XML TURTLE JSON-LD