disaster
di·sas·ter
noun
1.
a state of extreme (usually irremediable) ruin and misfortune
- “lack of funds has resulted in a catastrophe for our school system”
- “his policies were a disaster”
2.
an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
- “the whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity”
- “the earthquake was a disaster”
3.
an act that has disastrous consequences
Origin
From Middle French desastre, from Italian disastro, from dis- + astro (“star”), from Latin astrum (“star”), from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr.
Phrases
- disaster area
- disaster film
- disaster flora
- disaster movie
- disaster tourism
- disaster tourist
- disaster waiting to happen
- natural disaster
Related words
Word family
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.