calamity

noun

ca·​lam·​i·​ty kə-ˈla-mə-tē 

plural calamities

1

: a disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering

calamities of nature

an economic calamity

2

: a state of deep distress or misery caused by major misfortune or loss

Synonyms

• apocalypse
• cataclysm
• catastrophe
• debacle
• débâcle
• disaster
• tragedy

Examples of calamity in a Sentence

Twenty two years passed. Twenty-two years of excellent health and the boundless self-assurance that flows from being fit—twenty-two years spared the adversary that is illness and the calamity that waits in the wings. —Phillip Roth, Everyman, 2006

A resentment born of the suspicion that all along the media were up to their usual tricks, hyping a national calamity to the max in order to make us buy more copies and tune into TV specials … —Christopher Buckley, Time, 29 Nov. 1999

In the wake of this year's unending calamities, there has been renewed discussion of the need for an international rapid deployment force that can kick down doors to help victims of disasters. —Kathleen Hunt, New York Times Magazine, 28 July 1991

floods, earthquakes, and other calamities

He predicted calamity for the economy.

Recent Examples on the Web

Meantime Marty and his ex-wife Felicia (Karen Gillan), on good terms, commiserate by phone about the latest roster of calamities. —Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 6 June 2025

All these calamities are happening simultaneously — so many disasters coming at such speed that the bad news slams into Marty like a psychological avalanche. —Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2025

In Behind the Badge, Jones chronicles the stories of firefighters, police officers, border patrol agents, game wardens, sheriffs and dispatchers who all deliver lifelines to those in need and protect us from the calamity and evil of modern society. —Chris Dorsey, Forbes.com, 27 May 2025

Reckoning does eventually recover from the calamity of its first hour to give us an entertaining, if still messy, Mission: Impossible movie. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 14 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English calamytey, borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French calamité, borrowed from Latin calamitāt-, calamitās "disaster, misfortune, military defeat," going back to an unattested adjective *calamo- or *calami-, presumably, "injured, affected by misfortune or defeat" + -tāt-, -tās -TY; *calamo-/*calami- perhaps going back to Indo-European *kl̥h₂-em-o/i-, adjective derivative from a verbal base *kelh₂- "hit, strike" — more at clastic

Note: Later Roman writers associated calamitās by folk etymology with calamus "reed, cane," taking it to literally mean "plague affecting crops." A negated form of the Latin adjective underlying calamitās can be seen in the word incolumis "unharmed, safe and sound, undamaged," going back to *enkalamis. (The second -a- was presumably weakened to -i- and then backed and rounded to -u- before a labial consonant, with the first -a-, now in the second syllable, reducing and rounding to -o- before velar l.) Initial -aCa- in calamitās, rather than -aCi- by vowel weakening, is most likely the result of the so-called alacer rule, by which a short vowel in an open medial syllable retains its quality if it is identical to the vowel of the initial syllable (the word alacer "brisk, lively" exemplifying the rule—compare allegro entry 2).

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for calamity

• amity

Kids Definition

calamity

noun

ca·​lam·​i·​ty kə-ˈlam-ət-ē 

plural calamities

1

: deep distress or misery

2

: an event that causes great harm