Calamity

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Calamity \Ca*lam"i*ty\n.; pl. {Calamities}. [L. calamitas, akin
     to in-columis unharmed: cf. F. calamit['e]]
     1. Any great misfortune or cause of misery; -- generally
        applied to events or disasters which produce extensive
        evil, either to communities or individuals.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     Note: The word calamity was first derived from calamus when
           the corn could not get out of the stalk. --Bacon.
           [1913 Webster]
  
                 Strokes of calamity that scathe and scorch the
                 soul.                              --W. Irving.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A state or time of distress or misfortune; misery.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The deliberations of calamity are rarely wise.
                                                    --Burke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Where'er I came I brought calamity.   --Tennyson.
  
     Syn: Disaster; distress; affliction; adversity; misfortune;
          unhappiness; infelicity; mishap; mischance; misery;
          evil; extremity; exigency; downfall.
  
     Usage: {Calamity}, {Disaster}, {Misfortune}, {Mishap},
            {Mischance}. Of these words, calamity is the
            strongest. It supposes a somewhat continuous state,
            produced not usually by the direct agency of man, but
            by natural causes, such as fire, flood, tempest,
            disease, etc, Disaster denotes literally ill-starred,
            and is some unforeseen and distressing event which
            comes suddenly upon us, as if from hostile planet.
            Misfortune is often due to no specific cause; it is
            simply the bad fortune of an individual; a link in the
            chain of events; an evil independent of his own
            conduct, and not to be charged as a fault. Mischance
            and mishap are misfortunes of a trivial nature,
            occurring usually to individuals. "A calamity is
            either public or private, but more frequently the
            former; a disaster is rather particular than private;
            it affects things rather than persons; journey,
            expedition, and military movements are often attended
            with disasters; misfortunes are usually personal; they
            immediately affect the interests of the individual."
            --Crabb.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  calamity
       n : an event resulting in great loss and misfortune; "the whole
           city was affected by the irremediable calamity"; "the
           earthquake was a disaster" [syn: {catastrophe}, {disaster},
            {tragedy}, {cataclysm}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  68 Moby Thesaurus words for "calamity":
     accident, adversity, affliction, bane, blow, bugbear, burden,
     casualty, cataclysm, catastrophe, collapse, collision, contretemps,
     crack-up, crash, cross, crushing burden, curse, death, desolation,
     destruction, devastation, disaster, disease, distress, evil,
     fatal accident, fatality, grief, grievance, hardship, harm,
     ill hap, infliction, misadventure, mischance, misery, misfortune,
     mishap, nasty blow, nemesis, open wound, pest, pestilence, pileup,
     plague, reverse, ruin, ruination, running sore, scourge, shipwreck,
     shock, smash, smashup, staggering blow, thorn, torment, tragedy,
     trial, tribulation, trouble, vexation, violent death, visitation,
     woe, wreck, wretchedness
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  CALAMITY, n.  A more than commonly plain and unmistakable reminder
  that the affairs of this life are not of our own ordering.  Calamities
  are of two kinds:  misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to
  others.