disaster

See also: Disaster

English

Alternative forms

disastre (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle French desastre, from Italian disastro, from dis- + astro (“star”), from Latin astrum (“star”), from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzɑːs.tə(ɹ)/
(Northern England) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzæs.tə/
(US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzæs.tɚ/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -ɑːstə(ɹ), -æstə(ɹ)

Noun

disaster (countable and uncountable, plural disasters)

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.
People would suffer disasters when society's morality degenerates.
- 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:
  Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.
An unforeseen event causing great loss, upset or unpleasantness of whatever kind.
- 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
  And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.
- 2003, The Devil Wears Prada:
  A nod means good, two nods; very good. And then there's the pursing of the lips: disaster.
A skateboard trick involving a 180-degree ollie, landing on the center of the board with the front trucks facing towards the ramp and the back trucks over the lip. The skater then leans forwards to return in the ramp.

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:disaster

Derived terms

Translations

unexpected catastrophe causing physical damage, etc.

Albanian: fatkeqësi (sq) f, katastrofë (sq) f
Arabic: كَارِثَة f (kāriṯa), مُصِيبَة f (muṣība), آفَة f (ʔāfa)
Armenian: աղետ (hy) (aġet), դժբախտություն (hy) (džbaxtutʻyun)
Asturian: farrasplada f, desastre m
Azerbaijani: faciə (az), fəlakət (az)
Belarusian: катастро́фа f (katastrófa), бе́дства n (bjédstva), няшча́сце n (njaščáscje), го́ра (be) n (hóra), бяда́ (be) f (bjadá)
Bengali: বিপর্যয় (bn) (biporjoẏ), দুর্যোগ (bn) (durjōg), আফত (bn) (aphot)
Bulgarian: злополу́ка (bg) f (zlopolúka), катастро́фа (bg) f (katastrófa), бе́дствие (bg) n (bédstvie)
Burmese: ဘေးဆိုး (my) (bhe:hcui:)
Catalan: desastre (ca) m
Cebuano: katalagman
Chinese:
Cantonese: 災難／灾难 (zoi¹ naan⁶), 災害／灾害 (zoi¹ hoi⁶), 災禍／灾祸 (zoi¹ wo⁶)

Mandarin: 災難／灾难 (zh) (zāinàn), 災害／灾害 (zh) (zāihài), 災禍／灾祸 (zh) (zāihuò)
Czech: pohroma (cs) f, katastrofa (cs) f, neštěstí (cs) n
Danish: katastrofe (da) c, ulykke (da) c
Dutch: ramp (nl) f, onheil (nl) n, catastrofe (nl) f
Esperanto: malfeliĉego
Estonian: õnnetus (et), katastroof (et)
Finnish: onnettomuus (fi), katastrofi (fi)
French: désastre (fr) m, catastrophe (fr) f
Galician: desastre m
Gallurese: scullóppiu
Georgian: კატასტროფა (ḳaṭasṭropa), უბედურება (ubedureba)
German: Desaster (de) n, Unglück (de) n, Katastrophe (de) f, Unheil (de) n
Greek: καταστροφή (el) f (katastrofí)
Ancient: καταστροφή m (katastrophḗ)
Haitian Creole: dezas, katastwòf
Hebrew: אָסוֹן (he) m (asón)
Hindi: महाविनाश m (mahāvināś), तबाही (hi) f (tabāhī), आफ़त f (āfat), मुसीबत (hi) f (musībat)
Hungarian: katasztrófa (hu)
Icelandic: hörmung (is) f, hamfarir f pl, katastrófa f
Indonesian: bencana (id), musibah (id), malapetaka (id)
Irish: tubaiste (ga) f, anachain (ga) f
Italian: disastro (it) m
Japanese: 災害 (ja) (さいがい, saigai), 天災 (ja) (てんさい, tensai), 惨事 (ja) (さんじ, sanji), 災い (ja) (わざわい, wazawai)
Kazakh: апат (kk) (apat), зілзала (zılzala)
Khmer: មហន្តរាយ (mĕəʼhɑntaʼraay), ភយូបទ្រព (km) (phĕəʼyuupaʼtrup), ហាយនៈ (km) (haayĕəʼnĕəʼ), ភយន្តរាយ (km) (phĕəʼyŏəntaʼraay)
Korean: 재난(災難) (ko) (jaenan), 재앙(災殃) (ko) (jaeang), 재해(災害) (ko) (jaehae), 참사(慘事) (ko) (chamsa)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: mûsîbet (ku), felaket (ku), karesat (ku)
Kyrgyz: апаат (ky) (apaat), кырсык (ky) (kırsık)
Latgalian: vuorgi
Latin: calamitās f, clādēs f
Latvian: posts m, nelaime f, katastrofa f
Lithuanian: nelaimė f, katastrofa f
Macedonian: несреќа f (nesreḱa), катастро́фа f (katastrófa)
Malay: bencana (ms)
Malayalam: ദുരന്തം (ml) (durantaṁ)
Maori: inati, aituā
Mirandese: zastre m
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: гамшиг (mn) (gamšig), аюул (mn) (ajuul), сүйрэл (mn) (süjrel)
Nepali: प्रकोप (prakop)
Ngazidja Comorian: kafa class 5/6
Norwegian:
Bokmål: katastrofe m, (environmental) miljøkatastrofe m

Nynorsk: katastrofe m, (environmental) miljøkatastrofe m
Occitan: desastre (oc) m
Ottoman Turkish: غول (ğul)
Pashto: فاجعه (ps) f (fāje'a), آفت (ps) m (āfat), مصيبت m (mosibat)
Persian: فاجِعِه (fa) (fâje'e), مُصیبَت (fa) (mosibat), فَلاکَت (fa) (falâkat), آفَت (fa) (âfat)
Plautdietsch: Onjlekj n
Polish: katastrofa (pl) f, nieszczęście (pl) n, bieda (pl) f, gorze (pl) n
Portuguese: desastre (pt) m
Romanian: nenorocire (ro) f, dezastru (ro) n, catastrofă (ro) f, flagel (ro) n, calamitate (ro) f
Russian: бе́дствие (ru) n (bédstvije), катастро́фа (ru) f (katastrófa), несча́стье (ru) n (nesčástʹje), го́ре (ru) n (góre), беда́ (ru) f (bedá)
Sardinian:
Campidanese: disastru

Logudorese: istruéndu, rughína
Sassarese: disasthru
Scottish Gaelic: creach f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: катастро́фа f, нѐсрећа f

Roman: katastrófa (sh) f, nèsreća f
Sinhalese: ව්‍යසන (si) (wyasana)
Slovak: pohroma f, katastrofa f, nešťastie n
Slovene: katastrofa f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: dezaster m
Spanish: desastre (es) m
Swahili: janga (sw), afa (sw)
Swedish: katastrof (sv) c, olycka (sv) c
Tajik: офат (ofat), фалокат (tg) (falokat), мусибат (tg) (musibat), фоҷеа (fojea), фоҷиа (fojia), бадбахтӣ (tg) (badbaxti)
Tatar: афәт (tt) (afät)
Thai: ภัยพิบัติ (th) (pai-pí-bàt)
Turkish: afet (tr), felaket (tr), facia (tr)
Ukrainian: катастро́фа (uk) f (katastrófa), ли́хо (uk) n (lýxo), неща́стя (uk) n (neščástja), го́ре n (hóre), біда́ (uk) f (bidá)
Urdu: آفَت (ur) f (āfat), مُصِیبَت (ur) f (musībat), تَباہی f (tabāhī)
Uyghur: ئاپەت (apet), پالاكەت (palaket), ھالاكەت (halaket), بەختسىزلىك (bextsizlik)
Uzbek: ofat (uz), falokat (uz), musibat (uz), baxtsizlik (uz)
Vietnamese: tai hoạ (vi), thảm hoạ (vi)
Welsh: trychineb (cy) m or f

unforeseen event causing great loss, etc.

Armenian: պատուհաս (hy) (patuhas), արհավիրք (hy) (arhavirkʻ)
Azerbaijani: fəlakət (az)
Bulgarian: бе́дствие (bg) n (bédstvie)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 災難／灾难 (zoi¹ naan⁶)

Mandarin: 災難／灾难 (zh) (zāinàn)
Danish: katastrofe (da) c
Dutch: ramp (nl) c
Finnish: onnettomuus (fi), katastrofi (fi)
French: désastre (fr) m
Gallurese: scullóppiu
German: Desaster (de) n
Greek: καταστροφή (el) (katastrofí)
Ancient: καταστροφή m (katastrophḗ)
Hebrew: אָסוֹן (he) m (asón)
Hungarian: katasztrófa (hu)
Italian: disastro (it) m
Japanese: 災難 (ja) (さいなん, sainan)
Korean: 재난(災難) (ko) (jaenan)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: لێقەومان (lêqewman)
Latin: perniciēs f, clādēs f
Malayalam: ദുരന്തം (ml) (durantaṁ)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: katastrofe m

Nynorsk: katastrofe m
Portuguese: desastre (pt) m
Romanian: dezastru (ro) n
Russian: бе́дствие (ru) n (bédstvije), катастро́фа (ru) f (katastrófa)
Sardinian:
Campidanese: disastru

Logudorese: istruéndu, rughína
Sassarese: disasthru
Scottish Gaelic: creach f
Swahili: janga (sw), afa (sw)
Swedish: katastrof (sv) c
Welsh: trychineb (cy) m or f

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

Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ჭირი (č̣iri)

Anagrams

TARDISes, Tardises, diasters, disastre, disrates, restiads, tardises