catastrophism
The doctrine that sudden catastrophes, rather than continuous change, cause the main features of the Earth's crust.
Other meanings
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.
Related words
- neocatastrophism
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “catastrophism” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.