different between deluge vs cataclysm

English

Etymology

From Middle English deluge, from Old French deluge, alteration of earlier deluvie, from Latin d?luvium, from d?lu? (“wash away”). Doublet of diluvium.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?d?l.ju?d?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?d?l.ju(d)?/, /d??lu(d)?/

Noun

deluge (plural deluges)

1. A great flood or rain.

   The deluge continued for hours, drenching the land and slowing traffic to a halt.

2. An overwhelming amount of something; anything that overwhelms or causes great destruction.

   The rock concert was a deluge of sound.

   • 1848, James Russell Lowell, The Vision of Sir Launfal

     The little bird sits at his door in the sun, / Atilt like a blossom among the leaves, / And lets his illumined being o'errun / With the deluge of summer it receives.

3. (military engineering) A damage control system on navy warships which is activated by excessive temperature within the Vertical Launching System.
   • 2002, NAVEDTRA, Gunner's Mate 14324A

     In the event of a restrained firing or canister overtemperature condition, the deluge system sprays cooling water within the canister until the overtemperature condition no longer exists.

Translations

Verb

deluge (third-person singular simple present deluges, present participle deluging, simple past and past participle deluged)

1. (transitive) To flood with water.
2. (transitive) To overwhelm.

Translations

References

• 1996, T.F. Hoad, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Etymology, Oxford University Press, ?ISBN

See also

• inundate

Middle English

Alternative forms

• diluge

Etymology

From Old French deluge, from Latin d?luvium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d??liu?d?(?)/

Noun

deluge (Late Middle English)

1. A deluge; a massive flooding or raining.
2. (rare, figuratively) Any cataclysmic or catastrophic event.

Descendants

• English: deluge

References

• “d?l??e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-12.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin d?luvium.

Noun

deluge m (oblique plural deluges, nominative singular deluges, nominative plural deluge)

1. large flood

Descendants

• French: déluge
• ? Middle English: deluge
  • English: deluge

English

Alternative forms

• cataclasm (dated)

Etymology

French cataclysme, from Latin cataclysmus, from Ancient Greek ??????????? (kataklusmós, “deluge, flood”), from ????????? (kataklúz?, “to dash over, flood, deluge, inundate”), from ???? (katá, “downwards, towards”) + ????? (klúz?, “to wash off, to wash away, to dash over”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kæt??kl?zm?/

Noun

cataclysm (plural cataclysms)

1. A sudden, violent event.
2. (geology) A sudden and violent change in the earth's crust.
3. A great flood.

Derived terms

• cataclysmic

Related terms

• catastrophe

Translations