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cataracts

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
13
Words With Friends
15
Letters
9
Pronunciation
/ˈkætəɹækts/
See all 2 pronunciations
/ˈkætəɹækts/ · /ˈkætəˌɹæk(t)s/

Definition of cataracts

3 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (obsolete, plural, plural-only)The floodgates of heaven, regarded as holding back the rain.
    “No ſooner hee [Noah] vvith them of Man and Beaſt / Select for life ſhall in the Ark be lodg'd, / And ſhelterd round, but all the Cataracts / Of Heav'n ſet open on the Earth ſhall povvre / Raine day and night, […]”
See all 3 definitions

noun

  1. (obsolete, plural, plural-only)The floodgates of heaven, regarded as holding back the rain.
    “No ſooner hee [Noah] vvith them of Man and Beaſt / Select for life ſhall in the Ark be lodg'd, / And ſhelterd round, but all the Cataracts / Of Heav'n ſet open on the Earth ſhall povvre / Raine day and night, […]”
  2. (form-of, plural)plural of cataract

verb

  1. (form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person)third-person singular simple present indicative of cataract

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

PIE word *ḱóm From Late Middle English cataractes, cataractis, cateractes, used to translate καταρράκται (katarrháktai, “(probably) floodgates, sluices”) in the Septuagint and cataractae (“floodgates, sluices”) in the Vulgate versions of…

See full etymology

PIE word *ḱóm From Late Middle English cataractes, cataractis, cateractes, used to translate καταρράκται (katarrháktai, “(probably) floodgates, sluices”) in the Septuagint and cataractae (“floodgates, sluices”) in the Vulgate versions of the Bible. The Middle English words are plural forms of cataract, cataracta, cateract, cateracte (“floodgate of heaven”), from Old French cataracte (modern French cataracte), and from its etymon Latin cataracta (“floodgate; waterfall”), from Ancient Greek καταρ(ρ)άκτης (katar(rh)áktēs, “(noun) waterfall; (adjective) rushing downwards”), from καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (katar(rh)ā́ssō, “to pour down; to rush downwards”) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being). Καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (Katar(rh)ā́ssō) is derived either: * from κᾰτᾰ- (kătă-, prefix meaning ‘downwards’) + ἀρᾰ́σσω (arắssō, “to dash to pieces; to strike”) (further etymology unknown, possibly onomatopoeic) or ῥᾱ́σσω (rhā́ssō, “to dash; to strike”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreh₂ǵʰ- (“to pound, strike”)); or * from καταρρηγνύναι (katarrhēgnúnai, “to break down”). By surface analysis, cataract + -s (suffix forming pluralia tantum).

Words you can make from cataracts

61 playable · top: CATARACT (12 pts)

Best play cataract 12 points

7-letter words

1 word

6-letter words

6 words

5-letter words

12 words

4-letter words

20 words

3-letter words

16 words

2-letter words

5 words

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