Adjacent Words

Disaster definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DISASTER, n. Dizaster. [Gr., a star; a word of astrological origin.]
1. A blast or stroke of an unfavorable planet.
2. Misfortune; mishap; calamity; any unfortunate event, especially a sudden misfortune; as, we met with many disasters on the road.
DISASTER, v.t. To blast by the stroke of an unlucky planet; also, to injure; to afflict.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
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" [syn: catastrophe, disaster]
2: an event resulting in great loss and misfortune; "the whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity"; "the earthquake was a disaster" [syn: calamity, catastrophe, disaster, tragedy, cataclysm]
3: an act that has disastrous consequences

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle French & Old Italian; Middle French desastre, from Old Italian disastro, from dis- (from Latin) + astro star, from Latin astrum — more at astral Date: 1568 1. obsolete an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star 2. a sudden calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, or destruction; broadly a sudden or great misfortune or failure <the party was a disaster>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a great or sudden misfortune. 2 a a complete failure. b a person or enterprise ending in failure. Derivatives: disastrous adj. disastrously adv. Etymology: orig. 'unfavourable aspect of a star', f. F désastre or It. disastro (as DIS-, astro f. L astrum star)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Disaster Dis*as"ter, n. [F. d['e]sastre; pref. d['e]s- (L. dis-) + astre star, fr. L. astrum; a word of astrological origin. See Aster, Astral, Star.] 1. An unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent. [Obs.] Disasters in the sun. --Shak. 2. An adverse or unfortunate event, esp. a sudden and extraordinary misfortune; a calamity; a serious mishap. But noble souls, through dust and heat, Rise from disaster and defeat The stronger. --Longfellow. Syn: Calamity; misfortune; mishap; mischance; visitation; misadventure; ill luck. See Calamity.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Disaster Dis*as"ter, v. t. 1. To blast by the influence of a baleful star. [Obs.] --Sir P. Sidney. 2. To bring harm upon; to injure. [R.] --Thomson.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(disasters) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A disaster is a very bad accident such as an earthquake or a plane crash, especially one in which a lot of people are killed. It was the second air disaster in the region in less than two months... = tragedy N-COUNT 2. If you refer to something as a disaster, you are emphasizing that you think it is extremely bad or unacceptable. The whole production was just a disaster! = catastrophe N-COUNT [emphasis] 3. Disaster is something which has very bad consequences for you. The government brought itself to the brink of fiscal disaster... = catastrophe N-UNCOUNT 4. If you say that something is a recipe for disaster, you mean that it is very likely to have unpleasant consequences. PHRASE: v-link PHR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Mishap, misfortune, reverse, mischance, misadventure, adversity, calamity, catastrophe, blow, stroke, casualty.

Moby Thesaurus

accident, act of God, adversity, apoplexy, blow, breakdown, breaking up, breakup, calamity, casualty, cataclysm, catastrophe, cave, cave-in, climax, collapse, collision, contretemps, convulsion, crack-up, crash, debacle, diastrophism, distress, fatal accident, fatality, fit, grief, ill hap, misadventure, mischance, misfortune, mishap, nasty blow, overthrow, paroxysm, pileup, quake, reverse, rocks, shipwreck, shock, smash, smashup, spasm, staggering blow, stroke, temblor, tidal wave, total loss, tragedy, trouble, tsunami, upheaval, violent death, washout, wrack, wreck