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
- disastrously adverb
- disastrousness noun
- nondisastrous adjective
- nondisastrously adverb
- nondisastrousness noun
- predisastrous adjective
- predisastrously adverb
- quasi-disastrous adjective
- quasi-disastrously adverb
- undisastrous adjective
- undisastrously adverb
Etymology
Origin of disastrous
1580–90; < Middle French desastreux, Italian disastroso. See disaster, -ous
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.
Powell, who was born in 1953, is also old enough to remember the disastrous 1970s, when the Federal Reserve lost control of inflation by cutting short-term rates too soon and too much.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 3, 2026
The WHO is right to be preparing for this disastrous outcome while of course hoping we never come anywhere near it.
From Salon • Mar. 25, 2026
Sure, there are a few amateurs with metal detectors willing to give it a crack when a destination wedding takes a disastrous turn.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026
He added: "Nigel Farage has chutzpah to return to the stage and say 'things are disastrous, and I'm the person to fix it'."
From BBC • Mar. 18, 2026
Even a little cooling can have disastrous agricultural consequences.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
