Disastrous
/dɪˈzæstrəs/
Definitions
Causing great damage, harm, or failure; extremely unfortunate or unsuccessful.
/dɪˈzæstrəs/
Causing great damage or suffering; extremely bad or unsuccessful.
The fire caused disastrous damage to the building.
💡 Simply: When something is disastrous, it means it's really, really bad. Like, imagine your birthday party and it rains the whole time, all the cake gets squished, and nobody shows up. That's a disastrous birthday!
👶 For kids: Something disastrous is really bad, like a big problem.
More Examples
The outcome of the negotiation was disastrous for both parties.
Her disastrous performance in the play led to its early closure.
The economic collapse had a disastrous impact on many families.
How It's Used
"The earthquake was a disastrous event for the city."
"The company's investment proved to be disastrous."
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms
Idioms & expressions
a disastrous outcome
A negative result, often involving significant losses or failures.
"The negotiations ended with a disastrous outcome for both sides."
disastrous consequences
Negative results, often involving significant impact.
"The changes to the policy had disastrous consequences for the community."
From French désastreux, from désastre (disaster), from Italian disastro, from dis- (badly) + astro (star), reflecting a belief that negative astronomical events caused misfortune. The suffix '-ous' means 'characterized by'.
Used since the 17th century to describe events causing significant misfortune or failure.
Memory tip
Think of a disaster, like a hurricane; everything is DISASTROUSLY ruined.
Word Origin
"characterized by disaster, producing a bad outcome"