calamity
noun
Simple meaning
An event resulting in great loss and misfortune.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhlamuhteeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəˈlæməti
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An event resulting in great loss and misfortune
“The whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity.”
The distress that results from some disaster.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An event resulting in great loss and misfortune
Used this way, calamity is a common word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It sounds natural in ordinary conversation and in expressive writing alike.
“The whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity.”
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use calamity
- “The whole city was affected by the irremediable calamity.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A famine in Ireland resulting from a potato blight.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: event resulting in great loss and misfortune
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.