catastrophism

Meanings

1. The doctrine that sudden catastrophes, rather than continuous change, cause the main features of the Earth's crust.
2. 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.
3. The practice or tendency of catastrophizing, regarding bad things as catastrophic.

Etymology

From catastrophe + -ism, coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1837.