Synonyms for calamity
Most common
All synonyms
Noun
1. Disaster
disaster, catastrophe, tragedy, misfortune, misery, hardship, blow, woe, affliction, accident, distress, mishap, adversity, cataclysm, evil, trouble, casualty, misadventure, ill luck, ill, fatality, visitation
Other
Definitions
- n. 1
An event resulting in great loss.
Related words
- Word family
- calamitous
Forms
- Plural
- calamities → disasters, catastrophes, tragedies, misfortunes…
Choose the right word
Since the unintended is often the undesirable, accident tends to signify some calamity or disaster, unless the contrary is expressed, as when we say a fortunate or happy accident.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- disaster We will first ascertain the cause of the disaster.
- tragedy There's a strong probability of a nuclear tragedy.
- catastrophe Is the world on the edge of a nuclear catastrophe?
- misfortune What greater misfortune is there than to go blind?
- blight The potato blight ruined the crop across Ireland.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| calamity | steady | |
| disaster | rising | |
| tragedy | steady | |
| catastrophe | steady | |
| misfortune | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- ill1, woe1
- 4 letters
- evil2, blow1
- 6 letters
- misery3, blight1, mishap2
- 7 letters
- trouble2, tragedy3
- 8 letters
- accident3, disaster3, distress2, hardship2, casualty4, fatality4
- 9 letters
- adversity4, cataclysm4
- 10 letters
- misfortune3, visitation4, affliction3
- 11 letters
- catastrophe4
- 12 letters
- misadventure4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (evil2 = 2 syllables).