English Explanatory Dictionary

calamitous

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Causing or involving calamity; disastrous.
  2. Of a person: involved in a calamity; hence, distressed, miserable.

Pronunciation

/kəˈlæmɪtəs/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-calamitous.wav

Word forms

calamitous more calamitous most calamitous

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

apocalyptic calamitous cataclysmal cataclysmic catastrophic deadly debacular destructive devastating disadventurous disastrous eradicative extirpative fatal harmful lethal pernicious ruinous woeful

Antonyms

uncalamitous

Related words

calamity

Derived words

calamitously calamitousness uncalamitous uncalamitously
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