CALAMITY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Calamity

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/kəlˈæməti/ /kəlˈæmɪti/ Listen

noun

Calamity n. (pl. calamities)

1.

Any great misfortune or cause of misery; generally applied to events or disasters which produce extensive evil, either to communities or individuals. Note: The word calamity was first derived from calamus when the corn could not get out of the stalk. "Strokes of calamity that scathe and scorch the soul."

2.

A state or time of distress or misfortune; misery. "The deliberations of calamity are rarely wise." "Where'er I came I brought calamity."

Synonyms: Disaster; distress; affliction; adversity; misfortune; unhappiness; infelicity; mishap; mischance; misery; evil; extremity; exigency; downfall. Calamity, Disaster, Misfortune, Mishap, Mischance. Of these words, calamity is the strongest. It supposes a somewhat continuous state, produced not usually by the direct agency of man, but by natural causes, such as fire, flood, tempest, disease, etc, Disaster denotes literally ill-starred, and is some unforeseen and distressing event which comes suddenly upon us, as if from hostile planet. Misfortune is often due to no specific cause; it is simply the bad fortune of an individual; a link in the chain of events; an evil independent of his own conduct, and not to be charged as a fault. Mischance and mishap are misfortunes of a trivial nature, occurring usually to individuals. "A calamity is either public or private, but more frequently the former; a disaster is rather particular than private; it affects things rather than persons; journey, expedition, and military movements are often attended with disasters; misfortunes are usually personal; they immediately affect the interests of the individual."

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Etymology of 'Calamity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Calamity" Quotes from Famous Books

... moment you first beheld me I was engaged in a heated controversy with Epictetus, whose Discourses I hold in my hand. We are unable to agree on many points, especially upon the point which he assumes that he has made in the discussion of grief. He contends that when one is not blamable for some calamity which bereaves him or strips him of his possessions, ...

— Claim Number One • George W. (George Washington) Ogden

... such words have been uttered by those who speak with an authority I could not claim. It is as a lesson rather than as a reproach that I call up the memory of these irreparable errors and wrongs. No tongue can tell the heart-breaking calamity they have caused; they have closed the eyes just opened upon a new world of love and happiness; they have bowed the strength of manhood into the dust; they have cast the helplessness of infancy into the stranger's arms, or bequeathed it, with less cruelty, ...

— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... before intimated, the spectacle of pain inflicted is at all times an evil in itself. Even the presence of those gloomy buildings, devoted to all the wretched purposes of incarceration, is, we should say, a public calamity. The more men see of misery, the more callous do they become to it; the less effort do they make to relieve; the more ready are they to inflict it. Punishments should be multiplied as little as possible. Very slight ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845 • Various

... Quaritch's Dictionary of English Book-Collectors, 'was to recover the famous Manesse Liederbuch, a thirteenth century MS. carried away by the French from Heidelberg in 1656, the loss of which had ever since been regarded as a national calamity in Germany. For L6000 in cash and this precious volume, he handed over the 166 Libri and Barrois MSS. to the Bibliotheque Nationale. By a simple arithmetical process, we can conclude that L18,000 was the net cost to the German Exchequer of a single ...

— English Book Collectors • William Younger Fletcher

... "The place smells of calamity," said Mrs. Vansittart to herself, as she quitted the carriage and walked quickly along the sandy path to the ...

— Roden's Corner • Henry Seton Merriman

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