DISASTER • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Disaster

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/dɪzˈæstər/ Listen

noun

Disaster n.

An unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent. (Obs.) "Disasters in the sun."

An adverse or unfortunate event, esp. a sudden and extraordinary misfortune; a calamity; a serious mishap. "But noble souls, through dust and heat, Rise from disaster and defeat The stronger."

Synonyms: Calamity; misfortune; mishap; mischance; visitation; misadventure; ill luck. See Calamity.

verb

Disaster v. t.

To blast by the influence of a baleful star. (Obs.)

To bring harm upon; to injure. (R.)

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Etymology of 'Disaster'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Disaster" Quotes from Famous Books

... this is perhaps the hardest part of our lesson. It is one thing to bear with serenity those blows of fortune against which we are obviously defenseless; it is another thing, when there seems a chance for averting the disaster, when our whole heart and soul are thrown into that effort, to await the outcome with tranquility, to bear failure without complaint. The "might have been's" and the "perhaps may yet be's" are the greatest disturbers of our peace. To use our keenest wits for attaining what ...

— Problems of Conduct • Durant Drake

... was unnaturally compressed in order to keep back the tears. He was ashamed of having hurt her, and yet he knew that the least weakness on his part would mean disaster, i.e., would bind him to her. And to-day he feared this more than anything, and silently followed her ...

— Resurrection • Count Leo Tolstoy

... obstacles to encounter. Miss Haldane was an only child, and was possessed of an ample fortune. Arthur's career at the university had been creditable, but certainly not brilliant enough to present his withdrawal in the light of a disaster. As Sir Theodore's eldest son, his position was already made for him. He was two-and-twenty years of age; and the young lady was eighteen. There was really no producible reason for keeping the lovers waiting, ...

— The Haunted Hotel - A Mystery of Modern Venice • Wilkie Collins

... and hope which the pain has stung into fresh life, so from the sides of the mountain ascended the noise of the waters the cloud had left behind. The sun had kept on his journey; the storm had been no disaster to him; and now he was a long way down the west, and Twilight, in her grey cloak, would soon be tracking him from the east, like sorrow dogging delight. Gibbie, wet and cold, began to think of the cottage where he had been so kindly ...

— Sir Gibbie • George MacDonald

... sultry stagnation of the lower atmospheric stratum. From its vaporous lair somewhere in the cypress and palm jungles of the Mexican Gulf borders, the tempest had risen, and before its breath the shreds of cloud flew like avant couriers of disaster. Already the lurid glare of incessant sheet lightning fought with the moon for supremacy, and from a leaden wall along the southeastern sky, came the long reverberating growl of thunder, that told where the electric batteries had opened fire. A vague foreboding, which ...

— At the Mercy of Tiberius • August Evans Wilson

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