Catastrophe

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·noun The final event in a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy.

II. Catastrophe ·noun A violent and widely extended change in the surface of the earth, as, an elevation or subsidence of some part of it, effected by internal causes.

III. Catastrophe ·noun An event producing a subversion of the order or system of things; a final event, usually of a calamitous or disastrous nature; hence, sudden calamity; great misfortune.