tsunami
/tsuːˈnɑːmi
/noun (plural same or tsunamis)
1A long, high sea wave caused by an earthquake or other disturbance: the loss of human lives from this latest tsunami is staggering...
- Many people refer to tsunamis as tidal waves, but scientists do not use this term to describe the phenomenon.
- Other destructive historical earthquakes and tsunamis have been smaller.
- Earthquakes and tsunamis of those proportions have hit us in the past as we do live in a very vulnerable part of the world, on a tectonic plate.
1.1An arrival or occurrence of something in overwhelming quantities or amounts: a tsunami of data pours into the CNBC newsroom every minute of every trading day...
- With the tsunami of holiday movies comes another batch of soundtrack discs.
- The film was released just prior to the enforcement of the Hays Code and thus escaped censorship despite a veritable tsunami of erotic images and motifs.
- Step Into Liquid is a surfing documentary that offers a satisfactory amount of thrills within a tsunami of platitudes and hyperbole.
Origin
Late 19th century: from Japanese, from tsu 'harbour' + nami 'wave'.
The tsunami of Boxing Day 2004 made this Japanese word for a huge sea wave caused by an underwater earthquake known to everyone, replacing the misleading term tidal wave. It is formed from tsu ‘harbour’ and nami ‘wave’. See also tornado, typhoon