noun
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a disaster or misfortune, esp one causing extreme havoc, distress, or misery
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a state or feeling of deep distress or misery
Related Words
See disaster.
Etymology
Origin of calamity
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English calamite, from Middle French, from Latin calamitāt-, stem of calamitās (also kadamitas ) “crop failure, disaster,” of disputed origin; often considered to be derived from calam(us) “cane, reed” + -itās -ity ( def. ), but perhaps instead akin to columus “safe,” incolumitās “safety”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On Sunday, one club could go a long way to saving their season and edging the other towards the drop as crisis meets calamity.
From BBC • Mar. 21, 2026
Then, just after the calamity of World War II, in a remote corner of eastern France, he moved Modernism’s goal posts with a single, eccentric, transcendent project.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
Leading a mule train into the tunnels, Ondro faces a calamity that enters the history books.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
"For me, this is the first time I have experienced a calamity of this magnitude. Elders say a similar disaster took place in the 1990s," 24-year-old mechanic Tomaz Antonio Mlau says.
From BBC • Jan. 25, 2026
About five years before, most of his subjects had fallen before a terrible calamity.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
