Catastrophize

Quick meaning: Catastrophize is a verb meaning (transitive, intransitive) To regard a bad situation as if it were disastrous or catastrophic.

Meaning

(transitive, intransitive) To regard a bad situation as if it were disastrous or catastrophic.

More Meanings

1. (transitive, intransitive, psychology) To expose a behavior pattern of seeking the worst interpretation and magnifying the disagreeable outcomes (of).
2. (obsolete) To end a comedy.

Example Sentences

Another way to catastrophize is to jump to an extreme conclusion from an unimportant or irrelevant event.

Particularly likely to overreact are those who tend to catastrophize (Ellis, 1962) and those who have Type A personalities (Friedman & Rosenman, 1974).

“The Great Feminization” catastrophizes wildly about the future, presumably because what’s happening in the present utterly undermines its central thesis.

[I]ndividuals who catastrophized reported worse health-related quality of life, higher psychological distress, and perceived more somatic symptoms, worse consequences, and more severe emotional impact as compared to those participants who did not catastrophize.

Word Forms

• catastrophizes
• catastrophizing
• catastrophized
• catastrophise

Synonyms for catastrophize

Depending on context, synonyms include awfulize.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include catastrophise, crater, train wreck, crash, tragicize, blow up.

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