Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. Geology The doctrine that major changes in the earth's crust result from catastrophes rather than evolutionary processes.
- n. The prediction or expectation of cataclysmic upheaval, as in political or social developments.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. The doctrine that sudden catastrophes, rather than continuous change, cause the main features of the Earth's crust
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. The doctrine that the geological changes in the earth's crust have been caused by the sudden action of violent physical causes; -- opposed to the doctrine of
uniformism .
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The theoretical view of geological events which has as its essential basis the idea of a succession of catastrophes: the opposite of uniformitarianism. See catastrophe, 3, and cataclysm, 2.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Examples
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For the idea of catastrophism had not concerned the destruction of species merely, but their introduction as well.
A History of Science: in Five Volumes. Volume III: Modern development of the physical sciences
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Under this topic we can also treat two terms from geology, namely catastrophism and uniformitarianism.
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Retailing | Matt Maxwell looks at catastrophism and the comics market.
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A better example of modern superstitions that allow easier exercise of power include things like global warming catastrophism.
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As a bonus, reading original documents will disabuse you of the notion of catastrophism.
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The most striking fact in the development of modern geology is the renewed interest in catastrophism.
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"There's a lot of catastrophism in this area," says USGS research geophysicist Carolyn Ruppel.
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Less clear, though, is why born followers (some 65%) see no problem whatsoever with using any means possible to have this Communitarian end goal of one world order through financial & climate catastrophism achieved.
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with...
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In the three volume publication Principles of Geology (1830-1833), Lyell presented a variety of geologic evidence from England, France, Italy, and Spain to prove Hutton's ideas correct and to reject the theory of catastrophism.
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This is the book which many recognize as having started the modern revival of creationism and catastrophism.
stpeter commented on the word catastrophism
Contrast with uniformitarianism.
January 10, 2007