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Suffering calamity; wretched; miserable. [Obs.] Ten thousands of calamitous persons. South.

hostile opposition to; unfavorable; unpropitious; contrary to one's wishes; unfortunate; calamitous; afflictive; hurtful; as, adverse fates, adverse circumstances, things adverse. Happy were it for us all if we bore prosperity as well and wisely as we endure an adverse fortune. Southey. Adverse possession (Law), a pos…

Causing, or fitted to cause, pain or distress to the mind; calamitous; poignant. It is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God. Jer. ii. 19.

like darkness; destitute of moral light or goodness; atrociously wicked; cruel; mournful; calamitous; horrible. "This day's black fate." "Black villainy." "Arise, black vengeance." "Black day." "Black despair." Shak.

vent producing a subversion of the order or system of things; a final event, usually of a calamitous or disastrous nature; hence, sudden calamity; great misfortune. The strange catastrophe of affairs now at London. Bp. Buret. The most horrible and portentous catastrophe that nature ever yet saw. Woodward.…

Worthy of being deplored or lamented; lamentable; causing grief; hence, sad; calamitous; grievous; wretched; as, life's evils are deplorable. Individual sufferers are in a much more deplorable conditious than any others. Burke.

Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; woeful; as, a direful fiend; a direful day. -- Dire"ful*ly, adv. -- Dire"ful*ness, n.

Attended with suffering or disaster; very unfortunate; calamitous; ill-fated; as, a disastrous day; a disastrous termination of an undertaking. Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances. Shak. -- Dis*as"trous*ly, adv. -- Dis*as"trous*ness, n.

Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days. Because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. Deut. xxii. 19. The owl shrieked at thy birth -- an evil sign. Shak. Evil news rides post, while good news baits. Milton. E…

Causing death or destruction; deadly; mortal; destructive; calamitous; as, a fatal wound; a fatal disease; a fatal day; a fatal error.

To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous. Imprecate the vengeance of Heaven on the guilty empire. Mickle.

Producing great evil and grief; causing dejection; calamitous; afflictive; as, a melancholy event.

In a miserable; unhappily; calamitously; wretchedly; meanly. They were miserably entertained. Sir P. Sidney. The fifth was miserably stabbed to death. South.

ing mitigated; abatement or diminution of anything painful, harsh, severe, afflictive, or calamitous; as, the mitigation of pain, grief, rigor, severity, punishment, or penalty.

pecially, an antecedent impression or conviction of something unpleasant, distressing, or calamitous, about to happen; anticipation of evil; foreboding.

Afflictive; calamitous; causing sorrow; as, a sad accident; a sad misfortune.

ike relation; sequence; order; course; a succession of things; as, a continuous series of calamitous events. During some years his life a series of triumphs. Macaulay.

Fatal to life; mournful; terrible; calamitous; as, the tragic scenes of the French revolution.

Marked by infelicity; evil; calamitous; as, an unhappy day. "The unhappy morn." Milton.

That which is most bad or evil; the most severe, pernicious, calamitous, or wicked state or degree. The worst is not So long as we can say, This is the worst. Shak. He is always sure of finding diversion when the worst comes to the worst. Addison.