the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
adj. Of or pertaining to a cataclysm.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of a cataclysm.
Of or pertaining to cataclysmists; holding the doctrine of violent upheavals: as, the cataclysmal school of geologists.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adj. severely destructive
Word Usage
"The belief belongs to what may be called the cataclysmal theory of progress, which improves the world by sudden starts, and clings so fondly to liquor-laws, and has profound faith in specific remedies for moral and political diseases."