catastrophism

Meanings

Plural: catastrophisms

Noun

• The doctrine that sudden catastrophes, rather than continuous change, cause the main features of the Earth's crust.
• 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.
• The practice or tendency of catastrophizing, regarding bad things as catastrophic.

Antonyms

uniformitarianism

Related Words

catastrophist