as in disasters
a sudden violent event that brings about great loss or destruction
this latest breakdown of the car is inconvenient, but not a calamity
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Recent Examples of calamities
The winter had been a season of calamities, with one emergency or challenge after another.
—
Moira McCarthy, Boston Herald, 10 May 2026
Farmers markets — that humble and charming throwback to a bygone era — are also struggling with higher fuel prices, after weathering the economic calamities of the pandemic and other misfortunes.
—Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2026
For certain great artists, Meis believes, the creative act is a safe harbor where life’s pressures, exigencies, and calamities aren’t so much denied or resolved as reimagined as pictorial dramas.
—Jed Perl, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026
The difference is that those calamities were largely external shocks, as with the Iranian attacks, while censorship and draconian arrests are entirely self-made and self-defeating.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 1 Apr. 2026
Colorado went 43-119, a record that belongs in a museum exhibit beside other modern-era calamities, behind glass.
—Jenny Catlin, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2026
There were intervening calamities that Walz, Ellison and Omar had nothing to do with, COVID-19 and the death of George Floyd.
—Joe Soucheray, Twin Cities, 7 Mar. 2026
The apocalypse Rosi presents is not just the legendary one that destroyed the ancient Roman town of the film’s title but an ongoing one that encompasses the calamities of our modern era as well as the rejuvenation that sometimes accompanies destruction.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2026
What Trump is most certainly reviewing is the viability of Noem as a Cabinet secretary, who has rapidly become a scapegoat for the predictable calamities of the high-visibility deployment of border guards as SWAT troops in urban centers.
—Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 27 Jan. 2026
Moira McCarthy, Boston Herald, 10 May 2026
Farmers markets — that humble and charming throwback to a bygone era — are also struggling with higher fuel prices, after weathering the economic calamities of the pandemic and other misfortunes.
—Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2026
For certain great artists, Meis believes, the creative act is a safe harbor where life’s pressures, exigencies, and calamities aren’t so much denied or resolved as reimagined as pictorial dramas.
—Jed Perl, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026
The difference is that those calamities were largely external shocks, as with the Iranian attacks, while censorship and draconian arrests are entirely self-made and self-defeating.
—Charlie Campbell, Time, 1 Apr. 2026
Colorado went 43-119, a record that belongs in a museum exhibit beside other modern-era calamities, behind glass.
—Jenny Catlin, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2026
There were intervening calamities that Walz, Ellison and Omar had nothing to do with, COVID-19 and the death of George Floyd.
—Joe Soucheray, Twin Cities, 7 Mar. 2026
The apocalypse Rosi presents is not just the legendary one that destroyed the ancient Roman town of the film’s title but an ongoing one that encompasses the calamities of our modern era as well as the rejuvenation that sometimes accompanies destruction.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2026
What Trump is most certainly reviewing is the viability of Noem as a Cabinet secretary, who has rapidly become a scapegoat for the predictable calamities of the high-visibility deployment of border guards as SWAT troops in urban centers.
—Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 27 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calamities
Noun
-
For all the negative coverage, aesthetic arguments about climbing styles, the controversies and disasters, Everest continues to be at the heart of so many dreams and ambitions — even for old hands, like Cotter.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
30 May 2026
-
The third challenge is time pressure, especially in areas recovering from disasters.—
Cyril PETIT,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
Noun
-
The California manufacture has unveiled a beastly off-roader that can be kitted out to protect you from any pending world-wide catastrophes.—
Nicole Hoey,
Robb Report,
30 May 2026
-
The catastrophes are not hypothetical.—
Shlomit Wagman,
Fortune,
30 May 2026
Noun
-
The effort to both support and regulate DCF comes at a time when the department is being criticized for its handling of several recent tragedies involving children.—
Laura Tillman,
Hartford Courant,
2 June 2026
-
Those scenes' lighthearted whimsy, featuring late-night hijinks with classmates pranking grumpy instructors, pays off in the story's earliest tragedies.—
Jordan Minor,
PC Magazine,
1 June 2026
Noun
-
Based on Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, the surrealist musical follows one nuclear family across thousands of years and three apocalypses.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
10 Dec. 2025
-
And a lot of the pseudepigrapha, like the fake gospels and fake apocalypses, fill in gaps in the record that can serve latter-day, post-biblical purposes.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
16 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Calamities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calamities. Accessed 6 Jun. 2026.
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