disaster
Americannoun
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disasters
plural
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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
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Obsolete. an unfavorable aspect of a star or planet.
noun
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an occurrence that causes great distress or destruction
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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:
Less fortunate were Lehmann, who died of his burns in the hospital, and Dolan, in whose pocket was discovered a poignant goodbye letter written to his wife in case of disaster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
This is no secret to my forbearing friends who slouched in theater seats next to me during, say, every Paul W. S. Anderson-directed disaster in the “Resident Evil” series.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
This is a city where neighborhood displacement — whether by gentrification, government or natural disaster — is as commonplace and messy as the bloom of jacarandas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
The World Weather Attribution study, published on Thursday, said the disaster was the result of a "compound event" caused by rising temperatures, thinning glaciers, thawing permafrost and pre-existing geological weaknesses.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
I think maybe the compass incident, the disaster he had so nearly brought upon us that day, had changed him, made him more aware of other people.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
While some insurers are charging higher premiums, others are dropping condo HOAs and their owners altogether due to rising losses from natural disasters, such as hurricanes and wildfires, and increasing reinsurance costs.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Yet that same database warns against exactly this kind of comparison, because disasters have been far better recorded since 2000.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
It also assumed add-ons of 5% for independent production companies and 5% for labor costs in areas the Federal Emergency Management Agency has declared disasters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
Some 18% of Indian land is Himalayan, yet the region accounts for about 35% of disasters, according to the report.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
A constant companion, he had seen all of Washington’s wartime defeats, disasters, and disappointments.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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.
