calamities

noun

plural of calamity
as in disasters
a sudden violent event that brings about great loss or destruction this latest breakdown of the car is inconvenient, but not a calamity

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of calamities The winter had been a season of calamities, with one emergency or challenge after another. — Moira McCarthy, Boston Herald, 10 May 2026 In early times, most humans barely paid attention to weather calamities because the region was so sparsely populated. — Martin E. Comas, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 June 2026 There have been few comments about improvements or calamities, other than the usual notes that battery life was reduced immediately after installation, which is commonplace. — David Phelan, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026 For certain great artists, Meis believes, the creative act is a safe harbor where life’s pressures, exigencies, and calamities aren’t so much denied or resolved as reimagined as pictorial dramas. — Jed Perl, The New York Review of Books, 4 Apr. 2026 Madonna has made music through various calamities that at the time felt world-ending — wars, political unrest, financial collapse — so the terrors of 2026 don’t seem to faze her. — Scottie Andrew, CNN Money, 2 June 2026 Farmers markets — that humble and charming throwback to a bygone era — are also struggling with higher fuel prices, after weathering the economic calamities of the pandemic and other misfortunes. — Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2026 The difference is that those calamities were largely external shocks, as with the Iranian attacks, while censorship and draconian arrests are entirely self-made and self-defeating. — Charlie Campbell, Time, 1 Apr. 2026 To grade the 50 states and the District of Columbia on their relative natural disaster risks, five measures were developed that account for the frequency and damage of calamities, weighted against population and geographic size. — Jonathan Lansner, Oc Register, 21 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for calamities
  1. disasters
  2. catastrophes
  3. tragedies
  4. apocalypses
Noun
  • Cheap financial capital has flooded into the industry, lowering the cost of protecting against disasters, but Bäte thinks the trend cannot continue forever.
    — Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 3 July 2026
  • City leaders recognize the difficulty for families and communities dealing with vacant disasters.
    — Bryant Reed, CBS News, 2 July 2026
Definition of disasters
Noun
  • Prominent voices fear that the end result of the transformative technology is a job bloodbath and national security catastrophes, while others believe a new era of productivity is ready to be unlocked, with society living longer and healthier lives.
    — Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 3 July 2026
  • Healthcare registers the effects of climate catastrophes, ecosystem failures and food shortages that also fuel political and social crises.
    — Ginny Whitelaw, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
Definition of catastrophes
Noun
  • Beyond the solidarity such tragedies inspire and the accompanying political rhetoric, Rodríguez has little room to turn away any government willing to lend a hand during this crisis.
    — Gonzalo Zegarra, CNN Money, 29 June 2026
  • Recent incidents across North Texas show just how quickly these tragedies unfold and why having a plan matters.
    — William Jones, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 June 2026
Definition of tragedies
Noun
  • Based on Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, the surrealist musical follows one nuclear family across thousands of years and three apocalypses.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025
  • And a lot of the pseudepigrapha, like the fake gospels and fake apocalypses, fill in gaps in the record that can serve latter-day, post-biblical purposes.
    — JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025
Definition of apocalypses

Browse Nearby Words

calabooses
calamities
calamitous
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Cite this Entry

“Calamities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/calamities. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on calamities

Nglish: Translation of calamities for Spanish Speakers

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