disaster
Americannoun
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a calamitous event, especially one occurring suddenly and causing great loss of life, damage, or hardship, as a flood, airplane crash, or business failure.
- Synonyms:
- affliction, adversity, reverse, blow, accident, mishap, misadventure, misfortune, mischance
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Obsolete. an unfavorable aspect of a star or planet.
noun
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an occurrence that causes great distress or destruction
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a thing, project, etc, that fails or has been ruined
Synonym Usage
Disaster, calamity, catastrophe, cataclysm refer to adverse happenings often occurring suddenly and unexpectedly. A disaster may be caused by carelessness, negligence, bad judgment, or the like, or by natural forces, as a hurricane or flood: a railroad disaster. Calamity suggests great affliction, either personal or general; the emphasis is on the grief or sorrow caused: the calamity of losing a child. Catastrophe refers especially to the tragic outcome of a personal or public situation; the emphasis is on the destruction or irreplaceable loss: the catastrophe of a defeat in battle. Cataclysm, physically an earth-shaking change, refers to a personal or public upheaval of unparalleled violence: a cataclysm that turned his life in a new direction.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of disaster
First recorded in 1585–95; from Middle French desastre, from Italian disastro, from dis- dis- 1 + astro “star” (from Latin astrum, from Greek ástron )
Explanation
An earthquake, an oil spill, an economic collapse, a party with inedible food and truly awful music: Each of these could be described as a disaster, a cataclysmic event causing extreme suffering, even total destruction. Disaster made its way into the English language from Greek. The second part of the word is derived from astron — "star" or "planet," familiar from words like astronomy and astronaut. Dis- is prefix with a meaning similar to "un-" or "mis-," but with clearly negative connotations. Translated literally, disaster means "bad or unlucky star," and it's a relic of a time when astrology was considered a serious science that could predict events — including disasters you might try to avoid — in your life on Earth!
Vocabulary lists containing disaster
Did You Planet? Words With Surprisingly Spacey Origins
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Oh, My Stars! A Solstice Sampler
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Calamity, Catastrophe, and Crisis: Disaster Words
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
"When I look over there and I see how close we were to disaster like some of those people, that is terrifying," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
"Management's communication remains a disaster across the board," he said, adding that shop stewards were organising meetings at which Blume would be expected to take questions from staff in person.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
The disaster has claimed over 4,000 lives and injured almost 17,000 more people, and questions about the economic impact abound.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
In recent days, Rodríguez has been visiting field hospitals and thanking a list of some 30 foreign nations for health aid after the disaster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
In places where natural disasters frequently occur, disaster memory saves countless lives.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Modern networks are more resilient in disasters, an AT&T spokesman said, because they can be restored faster and are less vulnerable to damage and copper theft.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
Li Qiang, founder of China Labor Watch, a nonprofit organization, said the recent disasters reflect structural issues in the country’s manufacturing sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Without waste reduction at the source, ongoing sorting, and organic waste processing that can prevent methane gas from forming, there will always be the risk of environmental disasters occurring at landfills, he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Matejka notes that discounts are given to victims of natural disasters.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
Ben walked around with some very tiny fraction of his mind alert to the probabilities of disasters in real life.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
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.
