English Meaning & Definitions
An event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster.
- “The earthquake was a terrible calamity that left thousands of people homeless.”
- “They managed to avert a financial calamity by restructuring their debt.”
English Synonyms & Near Equivalents
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “calamity”.
Derived from the Middle French 'calamité', which traces back to the Latin 'calamitas', meaning 'damage, loss, or disaster'. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, though some linguists suggest a connection to the Latin 'calamus' (reed), implying a 'stalk-breaking' event, perhaps referring to a storm that flattens crops.
Think of a 'calamity' as a 'call a mighty' ambulance, because something disastrous has just happened.
Frequently Asked Questions About “calamity”
1. What is the meaning of “calamity” in English?
In English, calamity (noun) is defined as: “An event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster.”.
2. How do you use “calamity” in a sentence?
“The earthquake was a terrible calamity that left thousands of people homeless.”
3. What are English synonyms of “calamity”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “calamity”?
Derived from the Middle French 'calamité', which traces back to the Latin 'calamitas', meaning 'damage, loss, or disaster'. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, though some linguists suggest a connection to the Latin 'calamus' (reed), implying a 'stalk-breaking' event, perhaps referring to a storm that flattens crops.
🇬🇧More English Words to English
View all English words →A measurement of time indicating an instantaneous occurrence or a state where no time has elapsed.
The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
The cardinal number equal to one thousand million (1,000,000,000), expressed in scientific notation as 10^9.