Noun

(en noun)

An unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent change to the natural environment.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.}}

An unforeseen event causing great loss, upset or unpleasantness of whatever kind.

*{{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1

, passage=And no use for anyone to tell Charles that this was because the Family was in mourning for Mr Granville Darracott […]: Charles might only have been second footman at Darracott Place for a couple of months when that disaster occurred, but no one could gammon him into thinking that my lord cared a spangle for his heir.}}

* 2003 ,

A nod means good, two nods; very good. And then there's the pursing of the lips: disaster .

Noun

(en noun)

Something or someone that has been ruined.

He was an emotional wreck after the death of his wife.

The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.

* Cowper

To the fair haven of my native home, / The wreck of what I was, fatigued I come.

An event in which something is damaged through collision.

* Addison

the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds

* Spenser

Hard and obstinate / As is a rock amidst the raging floods, / 'Gainst which a ship, of succour desolate, / Doth suffer wreck , both of herself and goods.

* J. R. Green

Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst the wreck of its political life.

(legal) Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck.

(Bouvier)