noun
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a disaster or misfortune, esp one causing extreme havoc, distress, or misery
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a state or feeling of deep distress or misery
Synonym Usage
See disaster.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of calamity
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English calamite, from Middle French, from Latin calamitāt-, stem of calamitās (also kadamitas ) “crop failure, disaster,” of disputed origin; often considered to be derived from calam(us) “cane, reed” + -itās -ity ( def. ), but perhaps instead akin to columus “safe,” incolumitās “safety”
Explanation
Use the word calamity to describe an event that causes great harm and misery, or a general state of distress or misery: the calamity of war. Near synonyms are catastrophe and disaster. The noun calamity is from Middle English calamytey, from Latin calamitas, a word which might be related to Latin clades "destruction." Calamity Jane was the nickname of a 19th-century woman living on the U.S. frontier. She claimed to have some very exciting adventures.
Vocabulary lists containing calamity
The Crossover
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List 8
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A more immediate calamity could be fertilizer shortages as India, where two-thirds of the population is still rural, heads into its June-July planting season timed to the summer monsoon, Pramanik says.
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
Nor did it comment on the root cause of the calamity.
From Barron's • May 8, 2026
Historic freezes in 1894 and 1895 nearly eradicated the industry, its first and last real brush with old-world calamity.
From Slate • Apr. 20, 2026
But Hanke warned that lawmakers were basing their policy decisions on fears of an unlikely calamity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
A month later came a much more serious calamity.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
