disastrous
Americanadjective
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causing great distress or injury; ruinous; very unfortunate; calamitous.
The rain and cold proved disastrous to his health.
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Archaic. foreboding disaster.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disastrous
1580–90; < Middle French desastreux, Italian disastroso. See disaster, -ous
Explanation
Setting things on fire to see how fast they burn might seem like fun, but it can be disastrous. Something that's disastrous has terrible consequences. Any action that can cause serious damage is potentially disastrous, like driving too fast on an icy road or climbing a tree during a thunderstorm. You can also use the word disastrous to talk about something that's merely unsuccessful. You could have a disastrous first date, or a disastrous attempt to house-train your puppy. Disastrous comes from the French désastreux, "ill-starred" or "unlucky."
Vocabulary lists containing disastrous
Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
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Commonly Misspelled Words, List 6
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Fear and Loathing in Cleveland: Trump's RNC Acceptance Speech
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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.
A video game studio founded by a former senior Grand Theft Auto developer is facing closure 15 months after the disastrous release of its debut game.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
I wanted to know if cryptocurrency actually offered a solution to the kinds of disastrous inflation and economic disenfranchisement the people I’d met had told me about.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
But the Emmys have not been hosted by a non-comedian since 2008, when five reality hosts landed the gig with disastrous results.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Free agent deals for Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Anthony Rendon—together worth $624 million—were largely disastrous.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
The project became known, all but inevitably, as the Mohole and it was pretty well disastrous.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
