Nearby Words
noun, plural -ties.
1.
a great misfortune or disaster, as a flood or serious injury.
2.
grievous affliction; adversity; misery: the calamity of war.
Origin:
1375–1425; late Middle English calamite < Middle French < Latin calamitāt- (stem of calamitās), perhaps akin to incolumitās safety
1375–1425; late Middle English calamite < Middle French < Latin calamitāt- (stem of calamitās), perhaps akin to incolumitās safety
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To calamity
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Calamity
is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
Example Sentences
- Violently losing four professors and a key staff member from a department of 14 faculty members was a calamity.
- Learn to see in another's calamity the ills which you should avoid.
- This city has been shaken by a calamity unparalleled in its history.
Collins
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
calamity
early 15c., from M.Fr. calamite (14c.), from L. calamitatem (nom. calamitas) "damage, loss, failure; disaster, misfortune, adversity," origin obscure. L. writers associated it with calamus "straw," but it is perhaps from a lost root preserved in incolumis "uninjured."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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