disastrous

English

Alternative forms

• disastress (obsolete)

Etymology

From disaster +‎ -ous, after Middle French desastreux (modern French désastreux; from desastre (modern French désastre, “disaster”; from des- + astre, a calque of Italian disastro) + -eux), itself after Italian disastroso, from disastro + -oso, from dis- (“away, without”) (from Latin dis-) + astro (“star, planet”) (from Latin astrum (“star, celestial body”), from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓́στρον (ắstron)).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzɑː.stɹəs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzæs.tɹəs/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzaː.stɹəs/

Adjective

disastrous (comparative more disastrous, superlative most disastrous)

1. Of the nature of a disaster; calamitous.

   Synonyms: cataclysmic, catastrophic; see also Thesaurus:disastrous

   • 2024 August 21, Daniel Falcone, “Trump Was Never a “Moderate” on Foreign Policy”, in Truthout‎^[1]:

     In addition, he was also able to reinforce the unease among progressive Democratic-leaning voters over Clinton’s disastrous pro-interventionist positions, thereby suppressing turnout and encouraging third party support in some key swing states that made the difference in his Electoral College victory.

2. Foreboding disaster; ill-omened.

   Synonyms: baleful, ill-boding, inauspicious, ominous, sinister; see also Thesaurus:ominous

   Antonyms: auspicious, fortunate; see also Thesaurus:auspicious

   • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 27:

     A fearsome sight it was to behold how he swelled in his wrath, and his eyes blazed like disastrous stars at midnight, and being wood with anger he gnashed his teeth till the froth stood at his lips and slavered down his chin.

Derived terms

• disastrously
• disastrousness
• nondisastrous
• undisastrous

Translations

of the nature of a disaster; calamitous

• Bulgarian: бедствен (bg) (bedstven), катастрофален (bg) (katastrofalen)
• Catalan: desastrós
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 灾难的

• Dutch: rampzalig (nl), catastrofaal (nl), rampspoedig (nl)
• Esperanto: katastrofa
• Finnish: tuhoisa (fi)
• French: désastreux (fr)
• Galician: desastroso
• German: desaströs (de), katastrophal (de), verheerend (de)
• Greek: καταστροφικός (el) (katastrofikós)
• Hungarian: súlyos (hu), katasztrofális (hu)
• Icelandic: hrapallegur (is)
• Japanese: 忌まわしい (ja) (imawashii)
• Korean: 재난의 (ko) (jaenanui), 처참하다 (cheochamhada)
• Latin: calamitōsus
• Macedonian: погубен (poguben), катастрофален (katastrofalen)
• Portuguese: desastroso (pt)
• Russian: бе́дственный (ru) (bédstvennyj), ги́бельный (ru) (gíbelʹnyj), катастрофи́ческий (ru) (katastrofíčeskij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ка̏тастрофа̄лан

  Roman: kȁtastrofālan (sh)

• Spanish: desastroso (es)
• Swedish: ödesdiger (sv), katastrofal (sv)
• Thai: หายนะ (th) (hǎa-yá-ná)
• Turkish: feci (tr)

foreboding disaster; ill-omened

• Bulgarian: пагубен (bg) (paguben)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 灾难性的

• Dutch: onheilspellend (nl), sinister (nl)
• Finnish: pahaenteinen (fi)
• German: verhängnisvoll
• Hungarian: baljós (hu)
• Japanese: 忌まわしい (ja) (imawashii)
• Russian: па́губный (ru) (págubnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} ainiarmhartach
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} disastroso (it)