disaster

[dih-zas-ter, -zah-ster]

noun

1. 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

2. Obsolete.,  an unfavorable aspect of a star or planet.

disaster

/ dɪˈzɑːstə /

noun

1. an occurrence that causes great distress or destruction

2. a thing, project, etc, that fails or has been ruined

Other Word Forms

• predisaster noun
• disastrous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of disaster¹

First recorded in 1585–95; from Middle French desastre, from Italian disastro, from dis- dis- ¹ + astro “star” (from Latin astrum, from Greek ástron )

Word History and Origins

Origin of disaster¹

C16 (originally in the sense: malevolent astral influence): from Italian disastro, from dis- (pejorative) + astro star, from Latin astrum, from Greek astron

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

The Foreign Office has urged them to register their presence to receive updates on the disaster response.

Read more on BBC

“Combining Warner Bros. with Paramount or another major studio or streamer would be a disaster for writers, for consumers, and for competition.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The network also regularly turns to each other with questions and answers about rebuilding efforts, toxins and the insurmountable work it takes to find normalcy in the aftermath of disaster.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A Turkish disaster response team is still waiting by the Gaza border for Israeli approval to enter the Palestinian territory to help with search and rescue operations, a defence ministry source said Thursday.

Read more on Barron's

The US is sending a disaster response team to Jamaica to assess the scale of need in the hurricane's aftermath.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• calamity 
• catastrophe 
• collapse 
• crash 
• debacle 
• defeat 
• emergency 
• failure 
• fiasco 
• flood 
• harm 
• hazard 
• holocaust 
• mishap 
• setback 
• tragedy 
• woe