disaster
Americannoun
-
disasters
plural
-
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
-
Obsolete. an unfavorable aspect of a star or planet.
noun
-
an occurrence that causes great distress or destruction
-
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:
Born three years before the Titanic disaster and eight years before the Russian Revolution, Caterham has also lived through two world wars.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Mel might be a disaster with her loud mouth and impolite antics, but her over-the-top meddling does her buddies some good.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The United States hasn’t necessarily experienced a water cybersecurity disaster, but worst-case scenarios are more tangible than hypothetical.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
Not fixing a problem until a disaster forces you to is known in the airline industry as “tombstone regulation”: They don’t change the regulations, and fix a known problem, until planes crash and people die.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
In July 2017, more than six years after the disaster at Fukushima, a tiny robot swam through the unit 3 building.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Sometimes the fatalities resulted from catastrophic natural disasters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Experts say the possibility of making money on disasters can create dangerous incentives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
"I have responded to many disasters in the past, but I have never experienced a case like this."
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
"Resolving regional issues must be carried out away from formulas imposed from the outside. We know very well that solutions imported from abroad only bring disasters," he told the Saudi-owned newspaper.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
In 1886 in the Pall Mall Gazette Stead had warned of the disasters likely to occur if shipping companies continued operating liners with too few lifeboats.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
