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disastrous

[dih-zas-truhs, -zah-struhs]

adjective

causing great distress or injury; ruinous; very unfortunate; calamitous: The rain and cold proved disastrous to his health.

Archaic. foreboding disaster.

Origin:
1580–90; < Middle French desastreux, Italian disastroso. See disaster, -ous

Related forms

dis·as·trous·ly, adverb

dis·as·trous·ness, noun

non·dis·as·trous, adjective

non·dis·as·trous·ly, adverb

non·dis·as·trous·ness, noun

EXPAND

pre·dis·as·trous, adjective

pre·dis·as·trous·ly, adverb

qua·si-dis·as·trous, adjective

qua·si-dis·as·trous·ly, adverb

un·dis·as·trous, adjective

un·dis·as·trous·ly, adverb

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To disastrous

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Disastrous is always a great word to know.

So is ort. Does it mean:

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

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Example Sentences

From the point of view of a pre-literacy person, this could have seemed a disastrous consequence of the new technology.

Germany is promptly hit with a disastrous debt auction.

However, the concern was for naught: the collider has been working without disastrous consequences.

EXPAND

From the point of view of a pre-literacy person, this could have seemed a disastrous consequence of the new technology.

Germany is promptly hit with a disastrous debt auction.

However, the concern was for naught: the collider has been working without disastrous consequences.

Global warming is real, and the consequences are potentially disastrous.

Early efforts to curb that outbreak ranged from ineffective to disastrous.

Later a couple of horrid books and a disastrous interview stained his reputation.

We applaud his efforts to give current candidates a better experience than he had at the disastrous interview he described.

Without a social safety net the effects of such modernization would be disastrous to the local economy.

These giant, intelligent, charismatic creatures have one disastrous design flaw.

However, this has had a disastrous effect on the honey culture of the region.

Mormons had endured disastrous confrontations with secular authorities.

It is a game of chance with the potential for disastrous consequences.

It turned out they were known to be potentially catastrophic long before the disastrous launch.

Then, the system needs to find alternatives unblemished by the disastrous decisions of the past-and technocrats fit the bill.

Some people feared disastrous consequences of such a venture.

It seems that intermingly genes from plants and animals will only enhance the potential for disastrous changes for humanity.

Joining coral, frogs and birds, these animals are disappearing at a disastrous rate.

It's a nice idea, but with current technology, the result would be disastrous.

Late payments result in fees, high interest rates, and a disastrous credit rating.

The invisible hand can be outvoted by over zealous printers in the short run, with disastrous results.

Even a temporary flush-when the parents are frightened off but return soon after-can be disastrous.

For decades, earthquake experts dreamed of being able to divine the time and place of the world's next disastrous shock.

We've recently covered the country's disastrous disease surveillance program.

Bluffing can be potentially disastrous if you really do want the job.

There is something familiar about the outward shape of his journey-glorious rise, disastrous fall, and finally recovery.

But it can be disastrous for females, which want to increase genetic variability of their offspring.

Acidification of the ocean could have disastrous effects.

It's been done before, sometimes with disastrous results.

He has made hundreds of media appearances, some of them disastrous.

Nobody did between the wars, and the consequences were disastrous.

Explore the positive aspects of climate and weather as well as those that are disastrous or inconvenient to human beings.

Showed how software could protect networks from disastrous crashes in individual servers.

But sometimes researchers strayed too far from the company's objectives, with disastrous results.

Mistakes will be made, but the biggest mistake is aligning oneself with a corrupt and disastrous plan.

If sustained, this slump would be disastrous for economic growth, in a continent already saddled with high unemployment.

Making the wrong choice about where to deploy the few remaining fire crews could be disastrous.

Still, it was over quickly, and nothing disastrous happened.

Haiti has been down this road before, with disastrous results.

Viewing online learning as a money saver is certain to produce disastrous results.

Not wearing helmets could have the protective effect that you suggest, but not protecting the eyes in hockey would be disastrous.

The consequences for this student, academically speaking, were disastrous.

But wear dark pants and bring a change of clothes to work because it apparently has disastrous side-effects.

The record of top-down schemes to revive cities by remaking neighborhoods is littered with disastrous unintended consequences.

The result was a round of reciprocal tariff hikes elsewhere, and a disastrous collapse in international trade.

The dirty trick didn't work and the plague was disastrous for the town.

Mao's disastrous program to collectivize agriculture and industry.

What makes it disastrous for the companies is that they have already merged.

The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

In time kreppa may become the word that conjures up the disastrous meltdown that is now taking place in the country's economy.

The closing of this country's caves will have disastrous affects not only to the caving community but to bat population as well.

But to much roll could be disastrous to certain subsystems and rollerons were added.

If this is all the reforms do, they could prove as disastrous as union and opposition leaders predict.

Ice melt caused by that rise could be disastrous for the birds as it reduces the area used for breeding grounds.

Lampros's introduction to the high school's academic standards proved a fitting preamble to a disastrous year.

The party has dominated national politics since independence, with disastrous economic results in the old days.

Natural events have been going on since the earth cooled and many were a lot more extreme and disastrous than those of today.

And given a somewhat disastrous year, safety gadgets are likely getting more popular.

In a business where knowledge is everything, this was disastrous.

The consequences could be disastrous unless action is stepped up to properly collect and recycle materials, the agency warned.

Seems great, but it was disastrous for treating alcoholism.

Those who hadn't been outed said it would be disastrous if someone found out.

After the storm it was not reformed, but cobbled back together, and the fruits of that disastrous decision are now being seen.

But perhaps trumping all of these examples is the potential disastrous health effects of global warming.

There is unanimous agreement that the plans will have disastrous consequences.

The key things seem to me to be the increasing heat of summer and how disastrous this nuclear problem is".

The barrages have been great for agriculture but disastrous for the environment.

If they quarrel or snuggle too close, it is either disastrous or pointless.

The coming of humans to these isolated ecosystems often initiated rapid and sometimes disastrous change.

Even in things that at first glance look to be good such as the promotion of bio-fuels that have disastrous consequences.

Japanese firms tend to export their business practices along with their executives, to disastrous effect.

Once in a while an exception is made, but the results can be disastrous.

Indeed the move would be politically disastrous for him since the government did so much to facilitate the merger.

The bad night and disastrous morning have thrown us two hours behind schedule.

When combined with his lack of experience, this could be a disastrous mixture.

Such folks didn't make any disastrous acquisitions or buy any dodgy debt.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

disaster (dɪˈzɑːstə)

—n
1.	an occurrence that causes great distress or destruction
2.	a thing, project, etc, that fails or has been ruined

[C16 (originally in the sense: malevolent astral influence): from Italian disastro, from dis- (pejorative) + astro star, from Latin astrum, from Greek astron]

dis'astrous

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

disastrous

1580s, from Fr. désastreux (16c.), from désastre (see disaster).

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Matching Quote

"It would be unjust, and moreover Utopian, for Shakespeare to direct the shoemakers' union. But it would be equally disastrous for the shoemakers' union to ignore Shakespeare."

-Albert Camus

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