disaster

English Online Dictionary. What means disaster‎? What does disaster mean?

English

Alternative forms

• disastre (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle French desastre, from Italian disastro, from dis- + astro (“star”), from Latin astrum (“star”), from Ancient Greek ἄστρον (ástron, “star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzɑːs.tə(ɹ)/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzæs.tə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzæs.tɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɑːstə(ɹ), -æstə(ɹ)

Noun

disaster (countable and uncountable, plural disasters)

1. An unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent change to the natural environment.
2. An unforeseen event causing great loss, upset or unpleasantness of whatever kind.
3. A skateboard trick involving a 180-degree ollie, landing on the center of the board with the front trucks facing towards the ramp and the back trucks over the lip. The skater then leans forwards to return in the ramp.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:disaster

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• TARDISes, Tardises, diasters, disastre, disrates, restiads, tardises