disaster

 
Pronunciation: /dɪˈzɑːstə/

noun

  • a sudden accident or a natural catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life: 159 people died in the disaster [mass noun]: disaster struck within minutes of take-off
  • [as modifier] denoting a genre of films that use natural or accidental catastrophe as the mainspring of plot and setting: a disaster movie
  • an event or fact that has unfortunate consequences: a string of personal disasters [mass noun]: reduced legal aid could spell financial disaster
  • informal a person or thing that is a complete failure: lunch had turned out to be a total disaster

Origin:

late 16th century: from Italian disastro 'ill-starred event', from dis- (expressing negation) + astro 'star' (from Latin astrum)