calamities

noun

plural of calamity
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of calamities The protagonist becomes a wise-guy version of Benjamin’s Angel of History, watching calamities accumulate before his eyes. — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026 To avert future calamities, the forest outside Bordeaux must be thinned and its fire breaks widened, said Arthur Guérin-Turcq, a Sorbonne University geographer whose family cultivates pines near Le Porge. — Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026 Indeed, conflict and calamities are major factors in financial repression. — Jason Ma, Fortune, 23 Aug. 2026 Defending champion Norris is 91 points back, even after winning the last race in Hungary, while fellow McLaren driver Piastri is seventh after a series of calamities throughout the season. — Beau Dure, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026 That’s been the story of this third season, one that started with Rhaenyra storming the castle and taking the Iron Throne and then promptly saw her get picked apart by dozens of unforeseen calamities. — Brian Grubb, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026 Yoon drew extensively on these themes in his earlier works—most recently in the novel Run Me to Earth and the Story Prize–winning collection The Hive and the Honey—and his oeuvre depicts war’s psychological and material calamities. — Rachel Vorona Cote, The Atlantic, 30 July 2026 At the heart of the celebration is Kyoto’s Yasaka Shrine, a Shinto site whose principal deity has long been revered as a protector against calamities. — ABC News, 19 July 2026 El Niño, which brings a potpourri of weather calamities, is the world's most significant climate pattern, costing the global economy trillions of dollars per year, according to a recent study. — Doyle Rice, USA Today, 16 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calamities
  1. disasters
  2. catastrophes
  3. tragedies
  4. apocalypses
Noun
  • Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, said Southern California has been rocked by numerous chemical disasters, including the Lineage warehouse fire and the Garden Grove hazardous materials emergency.
    — Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times, 30 Oct. 2026
  • Kimmel had been tapped to serve as master of ceremonies at the fundraiser for the home-sharing behemoth’s nonprofit, which was created in 2020 to provide free temporary housing to people displaced by disasters and other crises.
    — Maxwell Adler, Vanity Fair, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of disasters
Noun
  • Since Benson and her co-authors met in Oviedo, weather catastrophes have multiplied, oceans have acidified and the amount of carbon in the atmosphere has soared.
    — Katie Worth, ProPublica, 30 Oct. 2026
  • With that in mind, here’s a look at three new books shaped by catastrophes large and small.
    — Lisa Henricksson, Air Mail, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of catastrophes
Noun
  • The film, directed by Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, shows how Morrison overcame multiple tragedies to achieve the unthinkable – scaling the north side of Mount Everest and then skiing down it, a feat never before accomplished.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 31 Oct. 2026
  • Ghosts can haunt their killers, or serve as a warning for the living to not forget the tragedies of the past.
    — Joseph States, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of tragedies
Noun
  • There are some apocalypses, the song seems to suggest, where no redemptive beauty can be found.
    — Marissa Lorusso, Pitchfork, 28 Oct. 2026
  • There’s a lot of apocalypses happening now in this world, major ones.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of apocalypses

Browse Nearby Words

calabooses
calamities
calamitous
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Cite this Entry

“Calamities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calamities. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.

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