disaster

  • 21disaster — /di zas teuhr, zah steuhr/, n. 1. a calamitous event, esp. one occurring suddenly and causing great loss of life, damage, or hardship, as a flood, airplane crash, or business failure. 2. Obs. an unfavorable aspect of a star or planet. [1585 95; < …

    Universalium

  • 22disaster — dis•as•ter [[t]dɪˈzæs tər, ˈzɑ stər[/t]] n. 1) a calamitous event, esp. one occurring suddenly and causing great loss of life, damage, or hardship, as a flood, airplane crash, or business failure 2) Obs. an unfavorable aspect of a star or planet&#8230; …

    From formal English to slang

  • 23disaster — /dəˈzastə / (say duh zahstuh) noun 1. any unfortunate event, especially a sudden or great misfortune. 2. a total failure, as of a person, machine, event, plan, etc.: *The shuttle is a disaster, an extremely unsatisfactory vehicle. –advertiser,&#8230; …

  • 24disaster —   Pōpilikia, pō ino, ulia weliweli.   See bitter.    ♦ To cause disaster, ho opōpilikia, ho opō ino.    ♦ Disaster area, wahi i ho opō ino ia.    ♦ To predict disaster, ho oiloilo …

    English-Hawaiian dictionary

  • 25disaster — noun /dɪˈzɑːs.tə(r)/dɪˈzæs.tɚ/ a) 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. The downpour and&#8230; …

    Wiktionary

  • 26disaster — [16] The word disaster has astrological connotations. It comes, perhaps via French désastre, from Italian disastro; this was a backformation from disastrato, literally ‘ill starred’, a compound adjective formed from the pejorative prefix dis and&#8230; …

    The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • 27disaster — noun 1) a subway disaster Syn: catastrophe, calamity, cataclysm, tragedy, act of God, holocaust; accident 2) a string of personal disasters Syn: misfortune, mishap, misadventure, mischance …

    Thesaurus of popular words

  • 28disaster — noun 1) a railway disaster Syn: catastrophe, calamity, cataclysm, tragedy, act of God, accident 2) a string of personal disasters Syn: misfortune, mishap, misadventure, setback, rev …

    Synonyms and antonyms dictionary

  • 29disaster — 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&#8230; …

    New Collegiate Dictionary

  • 30disaster — See disaster, holocaust, tragedy …

    Dictionary of problem words and expressions