calamity
A terrible event that causes great damage or sadness.
calamity in a sentence
- The storm was a calamity for the fishing village, wrecking boats and destroying dozens of homes.
- The long drought was a calamity for the farmers, whose crops withered and died in the fields.
Try an 11+ style question
Verbal reasoning papers often ask about a word like this.
Which word is closest in meaning to calamity?
- Ablessing
- Bsuccess
- Cluck
- Ddisaster
Show the answer
D: disaster. The other three mean the opposite of calamity.
Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to calamity?
- Ablessing
- Bdisaster
- Ccatastrophe
Show the answer
A: blessing. The other three mean nearly the same as calamity.
Words that mean something similar
disaster, catastrophe
Words that mean the opposite
blessing, luck, success
More words about time & change
- cease: To stop happening or stop doing something.
- commence: To begin or start.
- conclude: To bring something to an end, or to decide something after thinking about it.
- constant: Happening all the time without stopping, or staying the same.
- contemporary: Belonging to the present time; modern.
- convert: To change something into something else.
- corrode: To slowly eat away at metal or other material.
- customary: Done as a habit or tradition; usual.
More words to explore
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test