noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a disaster zone
▪ The damage is so serious that the government has declared the city a disaster zone.
courted...disaster
▪ To have admitted this would have courted political disaster.
declared a disaster area (=officially called a disaster area)
▪ The town was declared a disaster area after the floods.
disaster area
▪ The town was declared a disaster area officially called a disaster area after the floods.
disaster recovery
▪ We need to increase the budget allocation for disaster recovery.
disaster struck
▪ Everything seemed to be going fine when suddenly disaster struck.
disaster/emergency relief
▪ Our objective is to provide food aid and emergency relief to developing countries.
imminent danger/threat/death/disaster etc
▪ He was in imminent danger of dying.
impending danger/doom/death/disaster etc
▪ She had a sense of impending disaster.
natural disasters (=things such as floods or earthquakes)
▪ natural disasters
on the brink of death/disaster/war etc
▪ In October 1962 the world seemed on the brink of nuclear war.
▪ The company had huge debts and was on the brink of collapse.
prophet of doom/disaster (=someone who says that bad things will happen)
recipe for disaster
▪ She said that five small boys on skis was a recipe for disaster, not a holiday.
total failure/disaster
▪ The sales campaign was a total disaster.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
ecological
▪ But if they do not leave, he said, ecological disaster could be as little as five or 10 years away.
▪ Rampart Dam, however, was an ecological disaster probably with-out precedent in the world.
▪ In sum, our nation was headed toward ecological disaster.
▪ Ben has adapted his zany thriller about ecological disaster and will play the lead.
▪ Then there was Nordhausen - an industrial centre which was an ecological disaster.
▪ But it's also a story of ecological disaster and man's excess.
▪ Tex Slampacker was referring to yet another man-made ecological disaster.
economic
▪ Preaching economic death and disaster may not be Labour's best tactic.
▪ Despite the economic disaster that had befallen his country in the decade he had held power, he was confident of victory.
▪ The human disaster for its victims and their families thus feeds into a social and economic disaster for the countries affected.
▪ Along with the carrot of pecuniary reward must go the stick of personal economic disaster.
▪ The coal strike alone will not cause the economic disaster that the Soviet government is pretending it will.
▪ The poll tax has been a social, political and economic disaster of historic proportions.
▪ Today the country totters on the edge of economic disaster.
environmental
▪ If there had been a bolt on my belay at Swanage it would not have been an environmental disaster.
▪ The result is that civil, socio-political and environmental disasters are now threatening the roots of our existence.
▪ Of course, the Third World has already had - and has - some considerable environmental disasters.
▪ Although the oil wells survived they where badly managed and an environmental disaster.
▪ Perhaps international pressure can stop this environmental disaster.
▪ By 1903 the spectre of that environmental disaster had vanished.
financial
▪ But it could mean the difference between financial security and financial disaster for you and your family should a serious accident strike.
▪ Sound accounting advice will make your business; lack of good accounting advice is a recipe for financial disaster.
▪ With reduced legal aid payouts and a tough new means test for applicants looming, it could spell financial disaster.
▪ But the experiment has been a financial and cultural disaster.
▪ Captain Hamilton Mahoney, despite his financial disasters, had been a loving, understanding, and exciting father.
▪ The only way to steer reclamation away from utter financial disaster in the Missouri Basin was to subsidize it with hydropower revenues.
▪ The project ended in financial disaster, and Vermuyden was temporarily imprisoned for not paying his debts.
▪ Yet an open-ended discussion with a lawyer can be a financial disaster for you.
great
▪ The house gives the impression of having been abandoned suddenly, in anticipation of some great disaster.
▪ I at once feared some great disaster.
▪ Nile perch: a fine food fish, but responsible for one of the greatest biological disasters of the twentieth century.
▪ After the great disaster of his failed health reforms, he rarely tried again to do anything bold.
▪ In the reign of Boris Goldgather a great disaster overtook the Empire.
▪ In its report, Topics 2000, the researchers have chronicled great natural disasters stretching back over the past 1,000 years.
▪ A great or major disaster is based on the number of people killed and the economic loss of the event.
▪ These figures move slowly around a terrain apparently laid waste by some great disaster.
ill
▪ This is the world's worst industrial disaster.
▪ Besides annihilating about 40,000 homes, the worst natural disaster in memory destroyed countless businesses and jobs.
▪ The other recalls what was for a long time Britain's worst air disaster.
▪ Many are calling this the worst humanitarian disaster in the world today.
▪ He calls the drought the worst natural disaster to hit Texas this century.
▪ The team from St Tiggywinkles say it's the worst disaster they've ever seen.
▪ All 39 hands perished in the worst shipping disaster in Teesside's history.
imminent
▪ For much of the past week I have had this dreadful, stomach-churning feeling of imminent disaster.
▪ Yet, by a miracle of defensive dexterity, Kasparov survived again and again from what looked like imminent disaster.
impending
▪ Nothing, she told herself, could be worse than this uncertainty, this sense of impending disaster.
▪ Earlier on, they had sensed impending disaster.
major
▪ Nothing barring a major disaster can prevent her from becoming a main attraction - Barbara Dennerlein is a star in the ascendant.
▪ In the past, comets were feared harbingers of important historical events, including invasions and major disasters.
▪ From a climbing, diving and industrial archaeological view, blowing up anything in this area would be a major disaster.
▪ A great or major disaster is based on the number of people killed and the economic loss of the event.
▪ Although major disasters such as large oil pollution incidents and deaths from pesticides are few, both cause continuing problems.
▪ The Great Idea had become a major disaster, she had been lucky to escape with her life.
▪ The final withdrawal without major disaster enabled them to preserve some profit.
▪ It crowns a long-term rise in catastrophe losses, even though the number of major disasters was below its mid-1980s peak.
national
▪ Dorset gentry were irritated at Dorchester folk's disregard of their social superiors; national politics brought disaster.
▪ To call such an occurrence a national disaster begs the point.
▪ The prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has said he will set up a national disaster agency.
▪ President Suharto declared a national disaster on Dec. 15.
natural
▪ Newsgroups are also highly popular as a means of tracing family members who may have fled conflict or natural disaster.
▪ During recent natural disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has quickly sent out relief checks to thousands of residents.
▪ The plan is intended to protect the environment and reduce damage from natural disasters.
▪ Or a natural disaster may wipe out my offspring.
▪ In recent years, however, natural disasters and overgrazing have caused serious degeneration of grassland.
▪ Second, it could prevent us from dealing expeditiously with emergencies such as natural disasters or military threats.
▪ And the engineering marvel turned out to be a slow-motion natural disaster.
▪ But we have known the trauma of one natural disaster after another.
near
▪ Yet he kept his cool through these near-disasters, for which he earned universal respect.
▪ It took a couple of near disasters to set me straight.
▪ Once again, he had walked away from near disaster.
nuclear
▪ Two school authorities rejected the section on nuclear disasters.
▪ Whether this concern can prevent another Chernobyl-type nuclear reactor disaster remains to be seen.
potential
▪ Another potential disaster area was housing.
▪ Such uniform crops are breeding grounds of potential disaster due to vulnerability to pests or disease.
▪ Another potential disaster area is the canopy locking and jettison arrangements.
▪ Yablokov also warned of potential long term disasters caused by ruptures of oil and water pipelines.
▪ The Forestry Commission says there's the potential for disaster when the dumped cars are set alight.
▪ In today's world, the whole idea seems fraught with potential disaster.
total
▪ Miss Bingham's first band session was rather less than absolutely fabulous; in fact it was a total disaster.
▪ The answer may be one or both of these and only a careful rescue package can avert a total disaster.
▪ It could be as marvellous as you think it will be or it could be a total disaster.
▪ It might also be a total disaster and leave the chasm as wide as before.
▪ However, even a 10 % infection rate is a total disaster for any society.
unmitigated
▪ She had to admit that he would almost certainly not see the situation as an unmitigated disaster.
▪ On health and safety issues, however, deregulation has been an unmitigated disaster.
▪ So far, the tour had been an unmitigated disaster.
▪ What is happening in Assam is an unmitigated disaster.
▪ The raid itself was an unmitigated disaster.
■ NOUN
air
▪ The other recalls what was for a long time Britain's worst air disaster.
▪ Interview. he sez he saw the plaque and thought he'd see what was recorded on the air disaster.
area
▪ Another potential disaster area was housing.
▪ As far as my patients went, I became a walking disaster area.
▪ Almond said he may ask President Clinton to declare Rhode Island a disaster area, clearing the way for federal funds.
▪ Only this week, our shower and changing room have been declared a disaster area by the council.
▪ And many work units are virtual disaster areas in terms of fairness and worker satisfaction.
▪ Another potential disaster area is the canopy locking and jettison arrangements.
▪ Two engines were found in a lake nine miles from the disaster area.
relief
▪ Shawcross raises these questions within the context of disaster relief but they have a broader setting.
▪ For the first time the Soviet Government allowed foreign disaster relief organisations to enter its territory on a massive scale.
▪ The Mango concept is based on the well-established RedR service which helps agencies to recruit engineers for disaster relief operations.
▪ This allowed disaster relief experts to construct a new stone wall to reinforce the dam.
strike
▪ What happens before disaster strikes and long after journalists have forgotten it matters even more than rescue and relief.
▪ But most of this growing population is poor and marginalised, even before disaster strikes.
▪ Why, then, should their lives be of less value when disaster strikes?
■ VERB
avert
▪ At a fairly young age I learnt to sniff out danger and step into choppy conversations to skilfully avert disaster.
▪ The answer may be one or both of these and only a careful rescue package can avert a total disaster.
▪ Leader comment, page 18 Driver averts tanker disaster.
avoid
▪ A good staff manoeuvred to avoid such disasters, attempting to manipulate the presentation of news.
▪ He made a television play but turned down all other offers that came his way, desperate to avoid another disaster.
bring
▪ It is estimated that one heavy rainstorm could bring disaster.
▪ Tightening credit might bring on disaster, he said.
▪ His monolithic Movement is unlikely to survive him; yet its disintegration may bring disaster.
cause
▪ She said that, contrary to popular opinion, traumas caused by such a disaster were not short-lived.
▪ Implementation of this plan does not guarantee that a microorganism will not cause disaster.
▪ The misunderstanding causes disaster when the mounted tom-cat discovers that the kitten is too small for mating.
▪ The coal strike alone will not cause the economic disaster that the Soviet government is pretending it will.
▪ Vertical integration has caused a crop of disasters.
▪ It's threatening to cause a huge ecological disaster.
court
▪ Miletos, on the other hand, had courted disaster, and Branchidai had suffered.
▪ She kept looking up because looking down would be to court disaster.
▪ She knew that the longer the relationship lasted, the more she courted disaster.
declare
▪ Only this week, our shower and changing room have been declared a disaster area by the council.
▪ Almond said he may ask President Clinton to declare Rhode Island a disaster area, clearing the way for federal funds.
▪ President Suharto declared a national disaster on Dec. 15.
▪ President Clinton declared federal disasters in 37 California counties, opening the way for low-interest loans and other federal aid.
▪ Many have been left homeless and the region was declared a disaster zone.
▪ After President Bush declared a disaster, Congress immediately appropriated $ 2. 7 billion in emergency assistance.
▪ Last night President Bush declared Hawaii a disaster area.
▪ Fife Symington declared the situation a disaster and released $ 200, 000 in state funds to help in the fight.
end
▪ It ends with humiliation and disaster all round.
▪ She had known it would end in disaster.
▪ New battles are prepared for, to end in new disasters.
▪ The ill-fated exchange had ended in disaster.
▪ It was an unnatural devotion which, to her mind, could end only in disaster.
happen
▪ What happens before disaster strikes and long after journalists have forgotten it matters even more than rescue and relief.
▪ BSo what happens when the disasters cease, as they have now for the past couple of years?
lead
▪ Experts say a forty foot crack in a medieval transept wall could have led to disaster.
▪ In those early years, pillage and embezzlement had already led to fearful disasters.
▪ Unsuccessful affairs could lead to personal disaster.
▪ After the closing of its distribution centers led to organizational disaster, the firm did its best to minimize these consequences.
▪ That is both why he has survived and why he has led his country to disaster.
▪ It is all designed to produce an instant of indecision, a moment of confusion that leads to disaster.
▪ An accidental experiment shows how a change of scene can lead to disaster.
▪ Nyamwisi Movingi had resigned from this post on March 22, accusing the government of leading the country to disaster.
prevent
▪ Other protesters blocked cars, demanding answers from a government they said moved too slowly to prevent the disaster.
▪ The only way to prevent more cycles of disaster was to build a civilization based on irrigated farming.
▪ This would help prevent such a disaster occurring again.
▪ Herewith some advice on preventing inconvenience turning into disaster.
▪ In 1991 the state adopted an update of the Uniform Plumbing Code to prevent such a disaster from happening.
prove
▪ Has not the experiment proved a disaster for vast numbers of national health service patients?
▪ This discussion was proving to be a disaster.
spell
▪ Staff here say that would spell disaster for hundreds of alcoholics.
▪ All of this spells a disaster for the stock market, Allmon contends.
▪ With reduced legal aid payouts and a tough new means test for applicants looming, it could spell financial disaster.
▪ It only rarely spells universal disaster.
▪ Delegated authority without a meaningful consultation process would spell disaster for teacher morale, motivation, commitment and hence effectiveness.
▪ After all, one case of the trots hardly spells disaster.
▪ You never come in this kitchen but you break something: when you help it spells disaster.
turn
▪ Even in bed, sweet pleasure had turned to disaster.
▪ Herewith some advice on preventing inconvenience turning into disaster.
▪ Top: The excitement of a new pond will quickly wane if it turns into a disaster area overnight.
▪ At the Games: Poorly organized and poorly attended, the Paris Games turn into a disaster.
▪ And what should have been a doddle for Lord Waddington turned into a disaster.
▪ But Oklahomans have always had a way of turning their recurrent disasters, both natural and man-made, into assets.
▪ But difficulty could turn to disaster for the region.
▪ From a financial point of view, the insurance has turned a disaster into an inconvenience.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a near disaster/collapse etc
an unmitigated disaster/failure/pleasure etc
▪ On health and safety issues, however, deregulation has been an unmitigated disaster.
▪ She had to admit that he would almost certainly not see the situation as an unmitigated disaster.
▪ So far, the tour had been an unmitigated disaster.
▪ The raid itself was an unmitigated disaster.
▪ What is happening in Assam is an unmitigated disaster.
practical certainty/disaster/sell-out etc
▪ It was a practical certainty that he would be trying to raise more loans long before these were ever repaid.
spell trouble/disaster/danger etc
▪ After all, one case of the trots hardly spells disaster.
▪ Delegated authority without a meaningful consultation process would spell disaster for teacher morale, motivation, commitment and hence effectiveness.
▪ However, other investors said a difficult Diet session could spell trouble for bonds in the medium-term.
▪ Staff here say that would spell disaster for hundreds of alcoholics.
▪ Troubling developments For the reference-service industry, these developments spell trouble.
walking disaster (area)
▪ As far as my patients went, I became a walking disaster area.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ At least 264 people died, in one of the worst civilian air disasters of all time.
▪ I'd invite you in, but my place is a disaster.
▪ Natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes are common occurrences in California.
▪ The disaster killed more than 200 people.
▪ The 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl spread radiation worldwide.
▪ The Challenger disaster cost the lives of seven astronauts, and set back the nation's space program for years.
▪ The city has emergency plans for dealing with a major disaster such as a rail crash.
▪ The crash Monday is the latest in a long line of air disasters in West Africa.
▪ The governor said the earthquake was the worst natural disaster to hit India for over 50 years.
▪ The local people are used to coping with disaster.
▪ The Los Alamos area was officially declared a disaster area after the forest fires there in May.
▪ The party was a total disaster.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But if they do not leave, he said, ecological disaster could be as little as five or 10 years away.
▪ Despite the glossy packaging he ruined Labour's chances last time and he is set to repeat the disaster.
▪ General consensus is the meeting was a disaster.
▪ No disaster, and the wrecking of this ship is a disaster, justifies you to act stupidly.
▪ Our current economic policy has the makings of disaster.
▪ Shawcross raises these questions within the context of disaster relief but they have a broader setting.
▪ Staff here say that would spell disaster for hundreds of alcoholics.