definitions

calamity

[ kuh-lam-i-tee ]
/ kəˈlæm ɪ ti /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR calamity ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural ca·lam·i·ties.

a great misfortune or disaster, as a flood or serious injury.
grievous affliction; adversity; misery: the calamity of war.

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RELATED WORDS

hardship, collapse, scourge, misfortune, mishap, cataclysm, woe, adversity, catastrophe, curtains, downfall, reverse, misadventure, visitation, wreck, cross, mischance, trial, distress, tribulation

Nearby words

calamine, calamine brass, calamint, calamite, calamitous, calamity, calamity jane, calamondin, calamus, calamus scriptorius, calando

Origin of calamity

1375–1425; late Middle English calamite < Middle French < Latin calamitāt- (stem of calamitās), perhaps akin to incolumitās safety

Synonym study

1. See disaster.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for calamity

British Dictionary definitions for calamity

calamity

/ (kəˈlæmɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

a disaster or misfortune, esp one causing extreme havoc, distress, or misery
a state or feeling of deep distress or misery

Word Origin for calamity

C15: from French calamité, from Latin calamitās; related to Latin incolumis uninjured
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for calamity

calamity

n.

early 15c., from Middle French calamite (14c.), from Latin calamitatem (nominative calamitas) "damage, loss, failure; disaster, misfortune, adversity," origin obscure. Early etymologists associated it with calamus "straw" (see shawm); but it is perhaps from a lost root preserved in incolumis "uninjured," from PIE *kle-mo-, from base *kel- "to strike, cut" (see hilt).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper