disaster

English

Alternative forms

• disastre (archaic)

Etymology

From Italian disastro, disaster; originally meaning "unfavourable to one's stars", from dis-, bad (compare dys-), + astro, star, celestial body, from Latin astrum, from Greek astron. The word disaster is derived from Middle French désastre and that from Old Italian disastro, which in turn comes from the Greek pejorative prefix δυσ-, (dus-) "bad"[1] + ἀστήρ (aster), "star".[2] The root of the word disaster ("bad star" in Greek) comes from an astrological theme in which the ancients used to refer to the destruction or deconstruction of a star as a disaster.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /dɪˈzɑːs.tə(r)

  Rhymes: -ɑːstə(r)

• (US) IPA: /dɪˈzæs.tɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

disaster (plural disasters)

1. 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. An unforeseen event causing great loss, upset or unpleasantness of whatever kind.

   The downpour and gales turned the wedding into a disaster.

   A nod means good, two nods; very good. And then there's the pursing of the lips: disaster.

- The Devil Wears Prada

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:disaster

Translations

unexpected catastrophe causing physical damage, etc.

Bulgarian: злополука (bg) f., катастрофа (bg) f. Catalan: desastre (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 災難 (cmn), 灾难 (cmn) (zāinàn) Czech: pohroma (cs) f. Danish: katastrofe (da) c. Dutch: ramp (nl) c. Esperanto: malfeliĉego (eo) Finnish: onnettomuus (fi), katastrofi (fi) French: désastre (fr) m., catastrophe (fr) f. German: Desaster (de) n. Greek: καταστροφή (el) f. Haitian Creole: dezas, katastwòf

Hebrew: אסון (ason) m. Hindi: महाविनाश (hi) (mahaavinaash) m. Hungarian: katasztrófa (hu) Italian: disastro (it) m. Japanese: 災害 (ja) (さいがい, saigai), 天災 (ja) (てんさい, tensai), 惨事 (ja) (さんじ, sanji), 災い (ja) (わざわい, wazawai) Norwegian: katastrofe (no) m. Romanian: dezastru (ro) n., catastrofă (ro) f. Russian: бедствие (ru) (bédstvije) n., катастрофа (ru) (katastrófa) f. Scottish Gaelic: creach (gd) f. Spanish: desastre (es) m. Swahili: janga (sw), afa (sw)

unforeseen event causing great loss, etc.

Armenian: պատուհաս (hy) (patuhas) Bulgarian: бедствие (bg) n. Chinese: Mandarin: 災難 (cmn), 灾难 (cmn) (zāinàn) Danish: katastrofe (da) c. Dutch: ramp (nl) c. Finnish: onnettomuus (fi), katastrofi (fi) French: désastre (fr) m. German: Desaster (de) n. Hebrew: אסון (ason) m.

Hungarian: katasztrófa (hu) Italian: disastro (it) m. Japanese: 災難 (ja) (さいなん, sainan) Kurdish: لێقه‌ومان Norwegian: katastrofe (no) m. Portuguese: desastre (pt) m. Russian: бедствие (ru) (bédstvije) n., катастрофа (ru) (katastrófa) f. Scottish Gaelic: creach (gd) f. Swahili: janga (sw), afa (sw)

Anagrams

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