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Tribulation vs Catastrophe - What's the difference?

tribulation | catastrophe | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between tribulation and catastrophe

is that tribulation is any adversity; a trying period or event while catastrophe is any large and disastrous event of great significance.

As a proper noun Tribulation

is a relatively short period of time before the second coming where believers will experience worldwide persecution and be purified and strengthened by it.

tribulation

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Any adversity; a trying period or event.
  • * 1535 , , Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation , ch. 6:
  • For the blessed apostle himself in his sore tribulation', praying thrice unto God to take it away from him, was answered again by God (in a manner) that he was but a fool in asking that request, but that the help of God's grace in that '''tribulation''' to strengthen him was far better for him than to take that ' tribulation from him.
  • * 1847 , , Omoo , ch. 11:
  • Baltimore's tribulations were indeed sore; there was no peace for him day nor night.
  • * 1944 June 27, , Speech in Chicago, Illinois to the 23rd Republican National Convention:
  • It is youth who must inherit the tribulation , the sorrow and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war.
  • * 2009 Sept. 24, , " Kristina'': A New Musical from the ABBA Guys," ''New York Times (retrieved 12 March 2014):
  • Essentially stoic, passive characters, Kristina and the others triumph by surviving — by outliving their plagues and tribulations .

    catastrophe

    Alternative forms

    * (now rare) *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any large and disastrous event of great significance.
  • (insurance) A disaster beyond expectations
  • (narratology) The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot in a tragedy.
  • (mathematics) A type of bifurcation, where a system shifts between two stable states.
  • Synonyms

    *nakba

    Derived terms

    * catastrophe bond * catastrophe theory