disastrous

adjective

di·​sas·​trous di-ˈza-strəs 

also -ˈsa-

1

: attended by or causing suffering or disaster : calamitous

a disastrous flood

2

: terrible, horrendous

a disastrous score

disastrously adverb

Synonyms of disastrous

• fatal
• unfortunate
• catastrophic

Examples of disastrous in a Sentence

Half the city was destroyed by a disastrous fire.

The bad weather could have a disastrous effect on the area's tourism industry.

His failure to back up the computer files had disastrous consequences.

The strike was economically disastrous.

Recent Examples on the Web

The loss of experience and military brainpower had disastrous consequences, especially in Russian lives lost, during the Winter War against Finland and the early stages of World War II against Nazi Germany. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 28 June 2026

Equally, an investor does not need to believe in Bitcoin to understand that aggressively betting against it could be disastrous. — Jim Osman, Forbes.com, 27 June 2026

The whole Pride Night controversy started two weeks ago when four players wrote Bible verses on their rainbow hats, and the fallout ever since has been disastrous. — Zach Dean Outkick, FOXNews.com, 27 June 2026

Banks, whose leaders have long raised similar concerns, have been collaborating with the Treasury Department and Fed for years to develop other ways financial institutions could transfer funds in the event of a potentially disastrous outage. — Eleanor Mueller, semafor.com, 26 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1594, in the meaning defined at sense 1