disastrous
Americanadjective
-
causing great distress or injury; ruinous; very unfortunate; calamitous.
The rain and cold proved disastrous to his health.
-
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
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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.
Egged on by demagogues, Thucydides narrates, Athens embarked on a war of choice—the Sicilian expedition, the disastrous failure of which contributed to Athens’s eventual defeat in the Peloponnesian War.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Senne Lammens: Made a major early error that could have had disastrous consequences but the Belgian recovered to make the save from Dominic Solanke.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Weaving together material adapted from several ancient Greek sources, Ferdia Lennon’s novel is a tragicomic reimagining of the experience of Athenian prisoners captured during the disastrous Sicilian Expedition of 415-13 B.C.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
It has been a disastrous and unfamiliar start for Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, who before this season had never lost his first two games, either in college or the pros.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
The disastrous meltdown cycle was about to begin again.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
