calamity

/kə-ˈla-mə-tē/

Middle English calamytey, borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French calamité, borrowed from Latin calamitāt-, calamitās "disaster, misfortune, military defeat," going back to an unattested adjective *calamo- or *calami-, presumably, "injured, affected by misfortune or defeat" + -tāt-, -tās -TY; *calamo-/*calami- perhaps going back to Indo-European *kl̥h-em-o/i-, adjective derivative from a verbal base *kelh- "hit, strike"

noun

  1. a disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering

  2. a state of deep distress or misery caused by major misfortune or loss

calamities of nature

biographical name

  1. 1852?—1903Martha Jane BurkenéeCannary American frontier figure