calamitous
Syllables: ca·la·mit·ous/kəˈlæmɪtəs/
calamitous adjective: causing or involving calamity; disastrous.
Adjective
calamitous (comparative more calamitous, superlative most calamitous)
- Causing or involving calamity; disastrous.
- The city was struck by a calamitous cyclone.
- [T]he fallacie of Æquivocation and Amphibologie, […] conclude from the ambiguity of ſome vvord, or the ambiguous ſintaxis of many put together. From this fallacy aroſe the calamitous error of the Jevves, miſapprehending the Propheſies of their Meſſias, and expounding them alvvayes unto literall and...1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Nearer and More Immediate Causes of Popular Errours, both in the Wiser, and Common Sort, Misapprehension, Fallacy, or False Distinction, Credulity, Supinity, Adherence...
- Synonyms:
- apocalyptic, cataclysmal, cataclysmic, catastrophic, deadly, debacular, destructive, devastating, disadventurous, disastrous
- Antonyms:
- uncalamitous
- Of a person: involved in a calamity; hence, distressed, miserable.
- Nor ought a Judge, in taking cognizance of a Cauſe, to ſhevv any Anger or Reſentment againſt ſuch Perſons as he conceives to be his Enemies, nor to be prevailed on by the Tears and Prayers of calamitous Perſons, nor ought he to affect to be thought Good-natured or Moroſe, Merciful or Severe, but...1726, John Ayliffe, “Of a Judge, His Power, Duty, and the Like”, in Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England....
- Thou haſt ſeen me happy and calamitous, thou haſt beheld my exaltation and my fall.1752 January 21 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. 190. Friday, January 11. 1752.”, in The Rambler, volume VIII, Edinburgh: […] Sands, Murray, and Cochran; sold by W. Gordon, C. Wright, J....
calamitous meaning in Malayalam, Punjabi, Sanskrit and Arabic
calamitous in Malayalam
- ദുരന്തമായ, ആപത്കരമായ, ദുഃഖകരമായ
calamitous in Punjabi
- calamitous, disastrous
- ਕਹਿਰਵਾਨ kahirvān
calamitous in Sanskrit
- causing or involving calamity — see also disastrous
- वृजिन vṛjina
calamitous in Arabic
- causing or involving calamity — see also disastrous
- جَائِح jāʔiḥ
More languagesFewer languages
- calamitous in Malay
- malang
- calamitous in Indonesian
- malang
Examples of calamitous in a sentence
- From this fallacy aroſe the calamitous error of the Jevves, miſapprehending the Propheſies of their Meſſias, and expounding them alvvayes unto literall and temporal expectation.1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Nearer and More Immediate Causes of Popular Errours, both in the Wiser, and Common Sort, Misapprehension...
- The next year vvas calamitous, bringing ſtrange fluxes upon men, and murren upon Cattel.1670, John Milton, “The Sixth Book”, in The History of Britain, that Part Especially now Call’d England. […], London: […] J[ohn] M[acock]...
- In former times it vvas a diſmal and calamitous thing for a tradeſman to break: vvhen it befell a family, it put all into confuſion and diſtraction; […]1725 (indicated as 1726), [Daniel Defoe], “Letter VII. Of the Tradesman in Distress, and Becoming Bankrupt.”, in The Complete English...
- For critics, foremost among them liberal intellectuals and human rights activists, Xi [Jinping]'s first term has proved calamitous.2017 October 14, Tom Phillips, “Chairman Xi crushes dissent but poor believe he's making China great”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The...
Synonyms of calamitous
- apocalyptic
- cataclysmal
- cataclysmic
- catastrophic
- deadly
- debacular
- destructive
- devastating
- disastrous
- eradicative
8 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of calamitous
| comparative | more calamitous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most calamitous |
Origin of calamitous
Borrowed from French calamiteux (“calamitous”) (see French -eux, English -ous), from Latin calamitōsus (“destructive, disastrous, ruinous, calamitous”), a contraction of calamitātōsus, from calamitāt- + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns); calamitāt- is the oblique stem of calamitās (“disaster, misfortune, calamity; damage, harm; loss”), from *calamis (“damaged”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂- (“to beat; to break”)) + -tās (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition or state). By surface analysis, calamity + -ous.
Words formed from calamitous
- calamitously
- calamitousness
- uncalamitous
- uncalamitously
Questions about calamitous
- What does calamitous mean?
- Calamitous means causing or involving calamity; disastrous.
- What is calamitous in Malayalam?
- Calamitous in Malayalam is ദുരന്തമായ, ആപത്കരമായ, ദുഃഖകരമായ. See Calamitous meaning in Malayalam.
- How do you use calamitous in a sentence?
- From this fallacy aroſe the calamitous error of the Jevves, miſapprehending the Propheſies of their Meſſias, and expounding them alvvayes unto literall and temporal expectation.
- What part of speech is calamitous?
- Calamitous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce calamitous?
- Calamitous is pronounced /kəˈlæmɪtəs/ (UK).
Words near calamitous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: calamitous (page history and authors); calamitous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਕਹਿਰਵਾਨ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-calamitous.wav.
Cite this entry: “calamitous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/calamitous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.