calamity

English

Etymology

From Middle French calamité, from Latin calamitās (“loss, damage; disaster”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈlæmɪti/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ca‧lam‧i‧ty

Noun

calamity (plural calamities)

1. An event resulting in great loss.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 67, column 2:

     Romeo come forth / Come forth thou fearfull man, / Affliction is enamor’d of thy parts: / And thou art wedded to calamitie.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Age and Youth”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 15:

     Yet, at that moment, she felt as if the acquisition of these gems were a calamity. Their possession involved separation from her uncle, from every relic of home affections, and from all that yet lingered with her of her childhood.

   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:

     And the village was deserted, the huts gaped black, rotting, all askew within the fallen enclosures. A calamity had come to it, sure enough.

2. The distress that results from some disaster.
   • 2013 August 14, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian‎^[1]:

     They were behind twice, first in the 11th minute when James Morrison scored a goal that was a personal calamity for Hart, and then four minutes into the second half when Kenny Miller eluded Gary Cahill to score with a splendid left-foot drive.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:disaster

Derived terms

• calamitist
• calamity howler
• fiscalamity

Related terms

• calamitous
• calamitously

Translations

event resulting in great loss

• Arabic: بَلَاء m (balāʔ), بُؤْس (ar) m (buʔs), مُصِيبَة f (muṣība)
• Armenian: աղետ (hy) (aġet)
• Azerbaijani: faciə (az), fəlakət (az), müsibət (az)
• Belarusian: катастро́фа f (katastrófa), бе́дства n (bjédstva), няшча́сце n (njaščáscje), бяда́ (be) f (bjadá)
• Bulgarian: бе́дствие (bg) n (bédstvie), катастро́фа (bg) f (katastrófa)
• Catalan: calamitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 災難 / 灾难 (zh) (zāinàn)

• Czech: kalamita (cs) f, katastrofa (cs) f, pohroma (cs) f, neštěstí (cs) n
• Dutch: calamiteit (nl) f
• Esperanto: katastrofo, plago (eo)
• Finnish: suuronnettomuus (fi)
• French: calamité (fr) f
• Georgian: უბედურება (ubedureba)
• German: Unheil (de) n, Kalamität (de) f
• Greek: συμφορά (el) f (symforá)

  Ancient: περίπτωμα n (períptōma), πῆμα n (pêma) (Epic)

• Hindi: आपदा (hi) f (āpdā), मुसीबत (hi) f (musībat), आफ़त f (āfat)
• Hungarian: vész (hu)
• Ido: kalamitato (io)
• Irish: anachain (ga) f
• Italian: calamità (it) f
• Japanese: 災い (ja) (わざわい, wazawai), 災難 (ja) (さいなん, sainan)
• Kazakh: апат (kk) (apat)
• Korean: 재난(災難) (ko) (jaenan)
• Latin: calamitās f
• Macedonian: не́среќа f (nésreḱa), катастро́фа f (katastrófa)
• Malayalam: ദുരന്തം (ml) (durantaṁ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kalamitet m

• Occitan: calamitat (oc) f
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: бѣдьство n (bědĭstvo)

• Oromo: balaa
• Ottoman Turkish: غول (ğul)
• Persian: بلا (fa) (balâ), مصیبت (fa) (mosibat), فاجعه (fa) (fâje'e), آفت (fa) (âfat)
• Plautdietsch: Onjlekj n
• Polish: nieszczęście (pl) n, katastrofa (pl) f, kataklizm (pl) m, zagłada (pl) f, klęska (pl) f
• Portuguese: calamidade (pt) f
• Romanian: flagel (ro), calamitate (ro) f, calamități f pl
• Russian: катастро́фа (ru) f (katastrófa), бе́дствие (ru) n (bédstvije), несча́стье (ru) n (nesčástʹje)
• Slovak: kalamita f, bieda f, nešťastie n, katastrofa f, pohroma f
• Spanish: calamidad (es) f
• Swedish: katastrof (sv), tragedi (sv), olycka (sv)
• Tagalog: kalamidad
• Tajik: фалокат (tg) (falokat), фоҷиа (fojia), бало (tg) (balo), мусибат (tg) (musibat), офат (ofat)
• Thai: หายนะ (th) (hǎa-yá-ná), วิบัติ (th) (wí-bàt)
• Turkish: bela (tr), musibet (tr), afet (tr), felaket (tr)
• Ukrainian: катастро́фа (uk) f (katastrófa), неща́стя (uk) n (neščástja), біда́ (uk) f (bidá)
• Urdu: آفت (ur) (āfat), مُصِیبَت (ur) f (musībat), قِیَامَت f (qiyāmat)
• Uyghur: پاجىئە (paji'e)
• Uzbek: fojia (uz), falokat (uz), dahshat (uz), musibat (uz)
• Vietnamese: tai hoạ (vi)
• Volapük: damifät

distress that results from some disaster

• Bulgarian: неща́стие (bg) n (neštástie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 災難 / 灾难 (zh) (zāinàn)

• Finnish: suurtuho
• Japanese: 災い (ja) (わざわい, wazawai), 災厄 (ja) (さいやく, saiyaku)
• Persian: گرفتاری (fa) (gereftâri), بدبختی (fa) (badbaxti)
• Portuguese: calamidade (pt) f
• Romanian: calamitate (ro) f
• Russian: беда́ (ru) f (bedá), несча́стье (ru) n (nesčástʹje), бе́дствие (ru) n (bédstvije), горе (ru) n (gore)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can