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/dɪzˈæstər/ Listen

noun

Disaster n.

An unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent. (Obs.) "Disasters in the sun."

An adverse or unfortunate event, esp. a sudden and extraordinary misfortune; a calamity; a serious mishap. "But noble souls, through dust and heat, Rise from disaster and defeat The stronger."

Synonyms: Calamity; misfortune; mishap; mischance; visitation; misadventure; ill luck. See Calamity.

verb

Disaster v. t.

To blast by the influence of a baleful star. (Obs.)

To bring harm upon; to injure. (R.)

See images of 'Disaster'

Etymology of 'Disaster'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Disaster" Quotes from Famous Books

... could make me change my mind, we shook hands, wished each other luck, and, as she turned away, she said, in her pretty French: "I am sorry it is disaster that brought us together, but I hope to know you better when days are happier"; and ...

— A Hilltop on the Marne • Mildred Aldrich

... consider. It seems to me it would be a good idea if every woman who is both protected and untrained but whose husband is approaching forty should, if not financially independent, begin seriously to think of fitting herself for self-support. The time to prepare for possible disaster is not after the torpedo has ...

— The Living Present • Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton

... place where the cyclone had struck the ship, lay the great island of Borneo. They knew it to be the nearest land, and for this had they been directing the boat's course ever since their disaster. The tarpaulin now promised to bring them nearer to it in one night, than their oars had done with ...

— The Castaways • Captain Mayne Reid

... his father, and, before opening the letter, kissed it rapturously; but it contained only a few words. Instead of feeling his trouble softened, it seemed to the young man still harder to bear. Honorable until then, and known as such, the old gentleman, ruined by an unforeseen disaster (the bankruptcy of a partner), had left for his son nothing but a few commonplace words of consolation, and no hope, except, perhaps, that vague hope without aim or reason which constitutes, it is said, the last possession ...

— International Short Stories: French • Various

... before the breezes Wouldst thou show thy strength, then teach it Both to conquer as it pleases— Both are weaker than the grave. Choose thy port, and steer to reach it! Threatening rocks? The rudder's master; Turning back is sure disaster, And its ...

— The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: - Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English, Volume 5. • Various

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