cataract
noun
[ ˈkatərakt ]
• a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque, resulting in blurred vision.
• "she had cataracts in both eyes"
• a large waterfall.
• "the river descends in a succession of spectacular cataracts"
Similar:
waterfall,
cascade,
falls,
rapids,
white water,
torrent,
downpour,
shower,
force,
linn,
Origin:
late Middle English (in the sense ‘floodgate’): from Latin cataracta ‘waterfall, floodgate’, also ‘portcullis’ (medical cataract (sense 1) probably being a figurative use of this), from Greek kataraktēs ‘down-rushing’, from katarassein, from kata- ‘down’ + arassein ‘strike, smash’.
