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Which of these is often referred to as a calamity in news reports?

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calamity

American  

[kuh-lam-i-tee] / kəˈlæm ɪ ti /

noun

• calamities
  plural

1. a great misfortune or disaster, as a flood or serious injury.

   Synonyms:

   mishap, mischance, cataclysm, catastrophe, blow, reverse

2. grievous affliction; adversity; misery.

   the calamity of war.

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calamity British  

/ kəˈlæmɪtɪ /

noun

1. a disaster or misfortune, esp one causing extreme havoc, distress, or misery

2. a state or feeling of deep distress or misery

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Synonym Usage

See disaster.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• calamities
  plural

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”

Explanation

Use the word calamity to describe an event that causes great harm and misery, or a general state of distress or misery: the calamity of war. Near synonyms are catastrophe and disaster. The noun calamity is from Middle English calamytey, from Latin calamitas, a word which might be related to Latin clades "destruction." Calamity Jane was the nickname of a 19th-century woman living on the U.S. frontier. She claimed to have some very exciting adventures.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

calamity calamities

"Their own reports repeatedly highlighted it. But they did not take any preventive steps, did not demand stringent checks and balances, nor were they prepared for a calamity they knew could occur," he says.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Young Pavi and her twin sister, Nisha, live in a world that no longer sees the Avatar as humanity’s savior after it was devastated by a calamity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

The explanation for the calamity has evolved since it struck, but appears linked to a collapsing glacier.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

In the end he was cleared of the most serious charges, leaving him free to write this account of the nation’s financial calamity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

“No big Magnolia mystery after all. Just another homegrown calamity claiming a thousand small green lives. Faith.”

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

We will treat on-field screw-ups like national calamities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

To avert future calamities, the forest outside Bordeaux must be thinned and its fire breaks widened, said Arthur Guérin-Turcq, a Sorbonne University geographer whose family cultivates pines near Le Porge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026

Scotland don't just concede goals, they create calamities - the sort of slapstick defending that a player such as Vini Jr is waiting to take advantage of.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026

Discounting wars, many of which also fail to unite citizenry, vast social and economic calamities don’t admit of any solution on which majorities of Americans agree.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026

Windstorms, lightning fires, landslides, volcanic eruptions, and other natural calamities knock down trees and open up the forest, or prevent open country from turning into forestland.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• adversity
• cataclysm
• catastrophe
• collapse
• hardship
• misfortune
• mishap
• scourge
• woe