calamity

noun

ca·​lam·​i·​ty kə-ˈla-mə-tē How to pronounce calamity (audio)
plural calamities
1
: a disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering
calamities of nature
an economic calamity
2
: a state of deep distress or misery caused by major misfortune or loss

Examples of calamity in a Sentence

Twenty two years passed. Twenty-two years of excellent health and the boundless self-assurance that flows from being fit—twenty-two years spared the adversary that is illness and the calamity that waits in the wings. Phillip Roth, Everyman, 2006
A resentment born of the suspicion that all along the media were up to their usual tricks, hyping a national calamity to the max in order to make us buy more copies and tune into TV specials … Christopher Buckley, Time, 29 Nov. 1999
In the wake of this year's unending calamities, there has been renewed discussion of the need for an international rapid deployment force that can kick down doors to help victims of disasters. Kathleen Hunt, New York Times Magazine, 28 July 1991
floods, earthquakes, and other calamities He predicted calamity for the economy.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
As a new video came to light Monday showing the chaos and calamity of a ferry gangway collapse on a historic Georgia island that left seven senior citizens dead and three critically injured, survivors shared harrowing details of the disaster. Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 21 Oct. 2024 But Smith, who is the vice president and treasurer of the Wrightwood Fire Safe Council, saw potential for calamity, as winds were forecast to pick up. Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2024 Beyond these current calamities lies a longer-term consequence that was by no means inevitable. Dalia Dassa Kaye, Foreign Affairs, 2 Oct. 2024 The ending is a total calamity, but The Rain People arrives there through an unpredictable and hazily beautiful survey of the new American landscape and one woman’s intrepid effort to find a new place for herself in it. Scott Tobias, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for calamity 

Word History

Etymology

Middle English calamytey, borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French calamité, borrowed from Latin calamitāt-, calamitās "disaster, misfortune, military defeat," going back to an unattested adjective *calamo- or *calami-, presumably, "injured, affected by misfortune or defeat" + -tāt-, -tās -TY; *calamo-/*calami- perhaps going back to Indo-European *kl̥h2-em-o/i-, adjective derivative from a verbal base *kelh2- "hit, strike" — more at clastic

Note: Later Roman writers associated calamitās by folk etymology with calamus "reed, cane," taking it to literally mean "plague affecting crops." A negated form of the Latin adjective underlying calamitās can be seen in the word incolumis "unharmed, safe and sound, undamaged," going back to *enkalamis. (The second -a- was presumably weakened to -i- and then backed and rounded to -u- before a labial consonant, with the first -a-, now in the second syllable, reducing and rounding to -o- before velar l.) Initial -aCa- in calamitās, rather than -aCi- by vowel weakening, is most likely the result of the so-called alacer rule, by which a short vowel in an open medial syllable retains its quality if it is identical to the vowel of the initial syllable (the word alacer "brisk, lively" exemplifying the rule—compare allegro entry 2).

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of calamity was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near calamity

Cite this Entry

“Calamity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calamity. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

calamity

noun
ca·​lam·​i·​ty kə-ˈlam-ət-ē How to pronounce calamity (audio)
plural calamities
1
: deep distress or misery
2
: an event that causes great harm

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