disaster

Meaning

1. (countable, uncountable) An unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent change to the natural environment.
2. (countable, uncountable) An unforeseen event causing great loss, upset or unpleasantness of whatever kind.
3. (countable, uncountable) A skateboard trick involving a 180-degree ollie, landing on the center of the board with the front trucks facing towards the ramp and the back trucks over the lip. The skater then leans forwards to return in the ramp.

Synonyms

calamity

catastrophe

misfortune

accident

tragedy

cataclysm

bad luck

ruin

destruction

hardship

mishap

adversity

distress

devastation

trouble

evil

misery

misadventure

woe

plague

natural calamity

death

💀

mistake

casualty

damage

fate

emergency

shipwreck

incident

fiasco

unhappiness

wreck

tribulation

hard times

suffering

debacle

danger

❗

smashup

fall

ravage

act of God

rack

sorrow

end

🔚

crash

collapse

havoc

ill luck

mischance

storm

Translations

désastre

disastro

catastrophe

desastre

Katastrophe

Unglück

malheur

ramp

calamité

desastre

καταστροφή

Unfall

catastrofe

calamidad

catastrofe

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɪˈzɑːs.tə(ɹ)/

Etymology

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.