calamity
a disastrous event
TRANSLATION
calamity = die Katastrophe --- GOOGLE INDEX calamity: approximately 6,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
The difference between misfortune and CALAMITY is this: If Gladstone fell into the Thames, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, that would be a calamity.
- former British conservative party leader Benjamin Disraeli talking about his liberal party rival William Gladstone
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Indian Prime Minister says flood a CALAMITY.
(BBC - News Headline)
- former British conservative party leader Benjamin Disraeli talking about his liberal party rival William Gladstone
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Indian Prime Minister says flood a CALAMITY.
(BBC - News Headline)
Did you
know?
calamity
noun
- a serious accident or bad event causing damage or suffering
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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Calamity is from the Middle French calamite, from the Latin calamitus, "damage, disaster, adversity."
For many Americans, the word calamity instantly recalls the legendary Calamity Jane, a colourful Wild West figure. She was born in 1852 in Missouri as Marthy Cannary and moved with her family to Montana and Utah.
She wandered about the West, working as a cook, dance-hall girl, camp follower and prostitute, doing whatever necessary to earn a living. In 1876 she ended up in Deadwood, South Dakota, site of new gold strikes. It was here that she allegedly met another Wild West legend, Wild Bill Hickok.
Calamity Jane toured with Wild West shows in the late 1800s. In 1901 she appeared at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, but was fired for her erratic behaviour and alcoholism. She returned to Deadwood, South Dakota, poor and destitute, where her calamitous life ended.
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SYNONYMS
affliction, cataclysm, catastrophe, collapse, downfall, hardship, holy mess, misfortune, mishap, ruin, scourge, tragedy, trial and tribulation, trouble, waterloo, woe, wreck
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"The collapse of financial institutions has been a calamity for the economy."
noun
- a serious accident or bad event causing damage or suffering
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
Calamity is from the Middle French calamite, from the Latin calamitus, "damage, disaster, adversity."
For many Americans, the word calamity instantly recalls the legendary Calamity Jane, a colourful Wild West figure. She was born in 1852 in Missouri as Marthy Cannary and moved with her family to Montana and Utah.
She wandered about the West, working as a cook, dance-hall girl, camp follower and prostitute, doing whatever necessary to earn a living. In 1876 she ended up in Deadwood, South Dakota, site of new gold strikes. It was here that she allegedly met another Wild West legend, Wild Bill Hickok.
Calamity Jane toured with Wild West shows in the late 1800s. In 1901 she appeared at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, but was fired for her erratic behaviour and alcoholism. She returned to Deadwood, South Dakota, poor and destitute, where her calamitous life ended.
---
SYNONYMS
affliction, cataclysm, catastrophe, collapse, downfall, hardship, holy mess, misfortune, mishap, ruin, scourge, tragedy, trial and tribulation, trouble, waterloo, woe, wreck
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"The collapse of financial institutions has been a calamity for the economy."
