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disaster
Pronunciation: /dəˈzastər/
noun
A sudden event, such as an accident or a natural catastrophe, that causes great damage or loss of life:
159 people died in the disaster
disaster struck within minutes of takeoff
• [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
reduced legal aid could spell financial disaster
• informal A person, act, or thing that is a failure:
my perm is a total disaster
disaster: in phrases
be a recipe for disaster
• Be extremely likely to have unfortunate consequences:
sky-high interest rates are a recipe for disaster
disaster: origin
Late 16th century: from Italian disastro 'ill-starred event', from dis- (expressing negation) + astro 'star' (from Latin astrum)
(Definition from Oxford Dictionaries Online © Oxford University Press 2014)
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