a sudden disaster or a violent event that causes change, for example a flood or a war (突然降临的)大灾难,大灾变,大动乱 to survive the cataclysm of the Black Death 从黑死病的灾难中幸存下来
Word Originearly 17th cent. (originally denoting the biblical Flood described in Genesis): from French cataclysme, via Latin from Greek kataklusmos ‘deluge’, from kata- ‘down’ + kluzein ‘to wash’.