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
Related Words
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
- disastrous adjective
- predisaster noun
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 )
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.
DHS also said Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would stop responding to anything that isn’t a disaster.
The disaster, the world’s most expensive fire ever, landed insurers with some $40 billion of losses.
Authorities said there was an ongoing avalanche risk after the Tuesday disaster and high winds prevented them from being able to utilize helicopters for days.
From BBC
She also has drawn attention for a plan to create a state-run disaster insurance policy for Californians.
From Los Angeles Times
Canada barely escaped the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic, needing a late goal to force overtime and avert disaster.
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.
