disaster

UK: /dɪˈzæstə^r/, /dɪˈzɑːstə^r/

US: /dɪˈzæstɚ/

US: (di zas′tər, -zä′stər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

dis•as•ter /dɪˈzæstɚ/   n. 

1. an overwhelming calamity or catastrophe:
   [countable] The earthquake was a terrible disaster for that town.
   [uncountable] Those actions will result in disaster for the economy.

See -astro-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

dis•as•ter  (di zas′tər, -zä′stər), n. 

1. a calamitous event, esp. one occurring suddenly and causing great loss of life, damage, or hardship, as a flood, airplane crash, or business failure.
2. [Obs.] an unfavorable aspect of a star or planet.

• Greek ástron
• Latin astrum
• Italian disastro, equivalent. to dis- dis-¹ + astro star
• Middle French desastre
• 1585–95

Synonyms

• 1. mischance, misfortune, misadventure, mishap, accident, blow, reverse, adversity, affliction.
  Disaster, calamity, catastrophe, cataclysm refer to adverse happenings often occurring suddenly and unexpectedly. A disaster may be caused by carelessness, negligence, bad judgment, or the like, or by natural forces, as a hurricane or flood:
  a railroad disaster.
  Calamity suggests great affliction, either personal or general; the emphasis is on the grief or sorrow caused:
  the calamity of losing a child.
  Catastrophe refers esp. to the tragic outcome of a personal or public situation; the emphasis is on the destruction or irreplaceable loss:
  the catastrophe of a defeat in battle.
  Cataclysm, physically an earth-shaking change, refers to a personal or public upheaval of unparalleled violence:
  a cataclysm that turned his life in a new direction.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

disaster / dɪˈzɑːstə/ noun

1. an occurrence that causes great distress or destruction
2. a thing, project, etc, that fails or has been ruined

Etymology: 16th Century (originally in the sense: malevolent astral influence): from Italian disastro, from dis- (pejorative) + astro star, from Latin astrum, from Greek astron

disˈastrous adjective