Definitions for disaster
dɪˈzæs tər, -ˈzɑ stərdis·as·ter

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:3.0 / 1 vote

1. catastrophe, disasternoun

   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"

2. calamity, catastrophe, disaster, tragedy, cataclysmnoun

   an event resulting in great loss and misfortune

   "the whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity"; "the earthquake was a disaster"

3. disasternoun

   an act that has disastrous consequences

WiktionaryRate this definition:3.2 / 6 votes

1. disasternoun

   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. disasternoun

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

3. 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" + ἀστήρ (aster), "star". 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.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. DISASTERnoun

   Etymology: desastre, French.

   1. The blast or stroke of an unfavourable planet.

   Stars shone with trains of fire, dews of blood fall;
   Disasters veil’d the sun; and the moist star,
   Upon whose influence Neptune’s empire stands,
   Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse. William Shakespeare, Hamlet.

   2. Misfortune; grief; mishap; misery; calamity.

   This day black omens threat the brightest fair,
   That e’er deserv’d a watchful spirit’s care,
   Some dire disaster, or by force or slight;
   But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night. Alexander Pope.

2. To Disasterverb

   Etymology: from the noun.

   1. To blast by the stroke of an unfavourable star.

   Ah, chaste bed of mine, said she, which never heretofore couldst accuse me of one defiled thought, how canst thou now receive that disastered changling? Philip Sidney, b. ii.

   2. To afflict; to mischief.

   These are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks. William Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra.

   In his own fields, the swain
   Disaster’d stands. James Thomson, Winter, l. 280.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Disaster

   A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Disasters are routinely divided into either "natural disasters" caused by natural hazards or "human-instigated disasters" caused from anthropogenic hazards. However, in modern times, the divide between natural, human-made and human-accelerated disasters is difficult to draw.Examples of natural hazards include avalanches, flooding, cold waves and heat waves, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, lightning, tsunamis, volcanic activity, wildfires, and winter precipitation. Examples of anthropogenic hazards include criminality, civil disorder, terrorism, war, industrial hazards, engineering hazards, power outages, fire, hazards caused by transportation, and environmental hazards. Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than 95% of all deaths caused by hazards occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural hazards are 20 times greater (as a percentage of gross domestic product) in developing countries than in industrialized countries.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. disaster

   A disaster is a sudden, catastrophic event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community's or society's ability to cope using its own resources. Such events can be natural, such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes, or man-made, such as wars, nuclear accidents, or terrorist attacks.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:3.0 / 2 votes

1. Disasternoun

   an unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent

2. Disasternoun

   an adverse or unfortunate event, esp. a sudden and extraordinary misfortune; a calamity; a serious mishap

3. Disasterverb

   to blast by the influence of a baleful star

4. Disasterverb

   to bring harm upon; to injure

WikidataRate this definition:4.7 / 3 votes

1. Disaster

   A disaster is a natural or man-made hazard resulting in an event of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life, or drastic change to the environment. A disaster can be ostensively defined as any tragic event stemming from events such as earthquakes, floods, catastrophic accidents, fires, or explosions. It is a phenomenon that can cause damage to life and property and destroy the economic, social and cultural life of people. In contemporary academia, disasters are seen as the consequence of inappropriately managed risk. These risks are the product of a combination of both hazard/s and vulnerability. Hazards that strike in areas with low vulnerability will never become disasters, as is the case in uninhabited regions. Developing countries suffer the greatest costs when a disaster hits – more than 95 percent of all deaths caused by disasters occur in developing countries, and losses due to natural disasters are 20 times greater in developing countries than in industrialized countries.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Disaster

   diz-as′tėr, n. an adverse or unfortunate event: a great and sudden misfortune: calamity.—adj. Disas′trous, calamitous, ruinous: gloomy, foreboding disaster.—adv. Disas′trously. [O. Fr. desastre, des—L. dis, with evil sense, astre—L. astrum, a star, destiny.]

Matched Categories

1. • Adversity
   • Destruction

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'disaster' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3510

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'disaster' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3209

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'disaster' in Nouns Frequency: #1292

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Anagrams for disaster »

1. asterids

2. diasters

3. disastre

4. disrates

5. Tardises

How to pronounce disaster?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say disaster in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of disaster in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of disaster in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of disaster in a Sentence

1. Mick Ryan:

   It should be treated as a routine tactic rather than a harbinger of disaster.

2. John Bay:

   Noble souls, through dust and heat, rise from disaster and defeat the stronger.

3. Philip Landrigan:

   My greatest concern is what will happen in India. It's a slow-moving disaster, and this is only the beginning.

4. Alfredo Zamudio:

   The largest case we found is in Japan, where some 230,000 people are still displaced today following the Tohoku earthquake and the tsunami disaster in 2011, including thousands displaced from the area around the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.

5. Imogen Wall:

   People affected by disasters need information just like disaster responders do - because it is what they need to make good decisions, protect themselves and their family and source the assistance they need.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=disaster
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Disaster
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=disaster
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disaster
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=disaster
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=disaster
9. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=disaster