# disastrous

Pronunciation: US say "di-ZAS-truhs" /dɪˈzæs.tɹəs/; say "di-ZAH-struhs" UK /dɪˈzɑː.stɹəs/, AUS /dɪˈzaː.stɹəs/

## Adjective

1. Marked by great damage, ruin, or suffering; calamitous.
   - Simple: Causing great harm, damage, or suffering.
   - _The company's decision to expand quickly proved disastrous, wiping out years of profit._
   - _A single disastrous harvest left the whole region facing famine._
2. Seeming to warn of or foretell a coming disaster; ill-omened.
   - Simple: Warning that something very bad is about to happen.
   - _Ancient writers often read eclipses as disastrous portents of a ruler's fall._
   - _The general dismissed the priest's disastrous prophecies and marched at dawn._

## Origin

Formed from 'disaster' plus the suffix '-ous', following Middle French 'desastreux' and Italian 'disastroso'. The root 'disaster' combines 'dis-' ('away, without', from Latin) with 'astro' ('star', from Latin 'astrum' and ultimately Ancient Greek 'astron').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/disastrous (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).