Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Cataclysm

Cataclysm , noun

[Latin cataclysmos, Greek kataklysmo`s, from {not transcribed} to dash over, inundate; kata` downward, against + {not transcribed} to wash or dash over: compare French cataclysme.]

1.
An extensive overflow or sweeping flood of water; a deluge.
2.
(Geology) Any violent catastrophe, involving sudden and extensive changes of the earth's surface.