calamitous

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective (of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin; ; ; ; - Charles Darwin; - Douglas MacArthur

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

black, disastrous, fatal, fateful

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