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
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
The calamities of war shuttered many of the earliest kissa, as entire collections of jazz records were lost.
—Nneka M. Okona, Bon Appetit Magazine, 21 Jan. 2026
But even if all those calamities come to pass, hey, Thomas still loves his partner.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 15 Jan. 2026
Not so much for most of the thousands of people displaced a year ago by the twin fire calamities that hit the east and west ends of Los Angeles County.
—James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 6 Jan. 2026
And a few novels nod to the future, imagining how life will change—or already has—as technology advances and calamities accrue.
—The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2025
The members of the country's urban search and rescue teams save lives and recover human remains after the biggest calamities.
—Rebecca Hersher, NPR, 4 Dec. 2025
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
The calamities of war shuttered many of the earliest kissa, as entire collections of jazz records were lost.
—Nneka M. Okona, Bon Appetit Magazine, 21 Jan. 2026
But even if all those calamities come to pass, hey, Thomas still loves his partner.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 15 Jan. 2026
Not so much for most of the thousands of people displaced a year ago by the twin fire calamities that hit the east and west ends of Los Angeles County.
—James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 6 Jan. 2026
And a few novels nod to the future, imagining how life will change—or already has—as technology advances and calamities accrue.
—The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2025
The members of the country's urban search and rescue teams save lives and recover human remains after the biggest calamities.
—Rebecca Hersher, NPR, 4 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calamities
Noun
-
Less than six weeks later, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was removed from her position, likely a result of a chain of PR disasters from DHS.—
Torrey Snow,
Baltimore Sun,
12 Mar. 2026
-
The deadly bus fire comes two months after one of the worst fire disasters in Switzerland in recent decades.—
Claire Carter,
The Washington Examiner,
11 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Not everyone can be Francis Ford Coppola, funding his own feverish catastrophes by selling off one of his vineyards.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
5 Mar. 2026
-
Kennedy has made no bones about his misplaced skepticism of mRNA vaccines, pinging off the proliferating conspiracies around the COVID vaccines — incredible innovations that saved countless lives during one of the worst global catastrophes in recent memory.—
The Orlando Sentinel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
21 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In Greek tragedies, the hero is felled by a fatal flaw.—
Maer Roshan,
HollywoodReporter,
10 Mar. 2026
-
The ballets that dancers revere most and that companies rely on to fill theaters are mostly fairytales or Shakespearean tragedies about straight couples—Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet—in which the woman dies or is turned into a bird.—
Chloe Angyal,
Time,
9 Mar. 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 16 Mar. 2026.
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