1
as in disastrous
bringing about ruin or misfortune
a calamitous decision to sell their products online exclusively ruined the business
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in devastating
causing or tending to cause destruction
a calamitous flood that destroyed the town's central business district
Synonyms & Similar Words
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 calamitous
The sum was, at the time, a record for a rights issue by a European company and followed the U.K. bank's calamitous acquisition, the previous autumn, of the Dutch lender ABN AMRO.
—
Ian King, CNBC, 4 June 2025
The debut of Snow White on Disney+ follows the film’s calamitous run in theaters, which began on March 21 after more than three years of controversies mainly involving Zegler and creative decisions by the studio, including the rendering of CGI dwarfs and various narrative changes.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 8 June 2025
That’s to the point of this factually informed fiction, which tracks a platoon of U.S. Navy SEALs during a calamitous mission in Iraq.
—Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2025
The Angels ambushed Richard Fitts for three home runs in a calamitous six-run first inning, chasing the Red Sox starter from the game after only three outs in what ended up being a 7-6 loss.
—Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 3 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for calamitous
Ian King, CNBC, 4 June 2025
The debut of Snow White on Disney+ follows the film’s calamitous run in theaters, which began on March 21 after more than three years of controversies mainly involving Zegler and creative decisions by the studio, including the rendering of CGI dwarfs and various narrative changes.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 8 June 2025
That’s to the point of this factually informed fiction, which tracks a platoon of U.S. Navy SEALs during a calamitous mission in Iraq.
—Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2025
The Angels ambushed Richard Fitts for three home runs in a calamitous six-run first inning, chasing the Red Sox starter from the game after only three outs in what ended up being a 7-6 loss.
—Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 3 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for calamitous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calamitous
Adjective
-
Skipping this governance checkpoint essentially means letting people create powerful and untested tools for decision making, which could be disastrous to an organization’s future success.—
Larry English,
Forbes.com,
26 June 2025
-
Trading away Jokic would be disastrous, and the thought of it is just as bad.—
Ricardo Klein,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 June 2025
Adjective
-
Despite these devastating effects, access to specialized treatment is limited.—
Julienne Verdi,
Boston Herald,
22 June 2025
-
Last Thursday, Trump gave the regime in Tehran an ultimatum: The mullahs needed to conclusively abandon their nuclear enrichment program or face devastating American strikes within the next two weeks.—
The Editors,
National Review,
22 June 2025
Adjective
-
And the mid-Atlantic recently saw its first fatal case of Heartland Virus.—
Pien Huang,
NPR,
23 June 2025
-
The United States has struck a crippling, but not fatal blow at Iran’s nuclear weapons aspirations.—
Brett Schaefer,
National Review,
23 June 2025
Adjective
-
Shakira does appear to be the beneficiary of an unintended consequence stemming from her unfortunate moves.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes.com,
21 June 2025
-
The stern instructor displays a remarkable amount of patience as the student bashes the unfortunate victim against every solid surface in sight — even alien beings capable of traversing the cosmos can have bad days at the office.—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
20 June 2025
Adjective
-
And now, the American political divide has turned increasingly violent with political assassinations, assaults, Swatting, online threats, jackboot arrests, armed military in the city streets, and mutually destructive behavior.—
Thomas Cangelosi,
Hartford Courant,
27 June 2025
-
His freedom was seen as part of a broader effort to address destructive federal policies, including the Indian boarding-school system, which Peltier was subjected to.—
Nick Estes,
New Yorker,
26 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Calamitous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calamitous. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share