What's the difference between disaster and tragedy?

Disaster


Definition:

  • (n.) An unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent.
  • (n.) An adverse or unfortunate event, esp. a sudden and extraordinary misfortune; a calamity; a serious mishap.
  • (v. t.) To blast by the influence of a baleful star.
  • (v. t.) To bring harm upon; to injure.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Following mass disasters and individual deaths, dentists with special training and experience in forensic odontology are frequently called upon to assist in the identification of badly mutilated or decomposed bodies.
  • (2) Crown prince Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz said yesterday that the state had "spared no effort" to avoid such disasters but added that "it cannot stop what God has preordained.
  • (3) Documents seen by the Guardian show that blood supplies for one fiscal year were paid for by donations from America’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID) – and both countries have imposed economic sanctions against the Syrian government.
  • (4) Travel around Fukushima today and there is little evidence of disaster or trauma.
  • (5) In the UK, George Osborne used this to his advantage, claiming "Britain faces the disaster of having its international credit rating downgraded" even after Moody's ranked UK debt as "resilient".
  • (6) Sometimes it can seem as if the history of the City is the history of its crises and disasters, from the banking crisis of 1825 (which saw undercapitalised banks collapse – perhaps the closest historic parallel to the contemporary credit crunch), through the Spanish panic of 1835, the railway bust of 1837, the crash of Overend Gurney, the Kaffir boom, the Westralian boom, the Marconi scandal, and so on and on – a theme with endless variations.
  • (7) Dealers speculated that Facebook's army of bankers had stepped in to stop the shares falling below $38, a move that would have landed the social network with a public relations disaster on its first day as a public company.
  • (8) "If it hadn't been for the nuclear disaster, we would never have given this project a second thought."
  • (9) This could spell disaster for small farmers, says Million Belay, co-ordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa.
  • (10) Simply lengthening the working age bracket is a potential disaster, unless the inequalities at the heart of the policy are addressed in a detailed and sensible way and we achieve full employment.
  • (11) The accident on 10 April 2010, killed the president, first lady and dozens of senior officials, in the worst Polish air disaster since the second world war.
  • (12) Beijing says the island outposts will serve maritime search and rescue missions, disaster relief, environmental protection as well as undefined military purposes.
  • (13) Wanchu Sherpa, chairman of Everest Summitteers Association of Nepal and two time summiteer himself, told the Guardian shortly after the accident that “nothing can be done to prevent such events” which he described as “simply natural disasters that are unavoidable”.
  • (14) Matteo Renzi, the Italian leader who has argued it would be a disaster if Britain left the EU, suggested defensiveness about freedom of movement led to nowhere apart from opening the door to “right-wing xenophobia and nationalism” in Europe .
  • (15) "Machineless" NH suggests the possibility of machineless CAVHD, which could provide dialysis and parenteral nutrition to many acute renal failure patients after a major disaster.
  • (16) Families fear that after April’s disaster the cycle of poverty in the region will be intensified.
  • (17) Salem County (NJ) Memorial Hospital cooperated in an areawide disaster drill and found that it took large doses of planning and cooperation to coordinate the effort.
  • (18) A chronology of the disaster, involving two helicopter crashes which left 11 dead, is presented.
  • (19) But even away from this disaster, facts about the industry's cost and scope to meet Europe's energy needs should be enough to give nuclear supporters pause.
  • (20) It cannot be established whether or not seasickness contributed to the cause of death in the case of the Ocean Ranger victims, but it did occur in 75% or more of TEMPSC occupants in the other four rig disasters.

Tragedy


Definition:

  • (n.) A dramatic poem, composed in elevated style, representing a signal action performed by some person or persons, and having a fatal issue; that species of drama which represents the sad or terrible phases of character and life.
  • (n.) A fatal and mournful event; any event in which human lives are lost by human violence, more especially by unauthorized violence.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Her story is an incredible tale of triumph over tragedy: a tormented childhood during China's Cultural Revolution, detention and forced exile after exposing female infanticide – then glittering success as the head of a major US technology firm.
  • (2) It is a tragedy that he abandoned Iraq, sacrificing the gains secured by American blood and treasure.
  • (3) The lesson, spelled out by Oak Creek's mayor, Steve Saffidi, was that it shouldn't have taken a tragedy for Sikhs, or anyone else, to find acceptance.
  • (4) Obama is expected to offer personal condolences to his counterpart Park Geun-Hye over the tragedy, but the South's unpredictable northern neighbour is set to dominate the agenda.
  • (5) The Australian prime minister and the Russian president discussed the Malaysia Airlines tragedy during a 15-minute meeting on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit on Tuesday.
  • (6) The second tragedy to strike Jeremy was the death of his wife Caroline.
  • (7) Shavit’s new book, My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel , has received plaudits from the cream of the liberal, American, political elite.
  • (8) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Global trade unions called the collapse ‘mass industrial homicide’, while Vogue magazine described it as ‘tragedy on an epic scale’.
  • (9) The deputy prime minister branded the treatment meted out to the four-year-old by his mother, Magdelena Luczak, and stepfather, Mariusz Krezolek, as evil and vile, but suggested it was up to the whole of society to stop such tragedies.
  • (10) Senator Edward Kennedy lived his life precisely at the crossroads of all that he encountered – at the intersection of statesmanship, of history, of moral purpose, of tragedy, of compromise.
  • (11) It’s a huge, huge tragedy.” Kortney Moore, 18, said she was in a writing class when a shot came through the window and hit the teacher in the head.
  • (12) Tragedy was averted because there was a little delay as the prayers did not commence in earnest and the bomb strapped to the body of the girl went off and killed her,” he added.
  • (13) In a therapeutic tragedy perhaps even more widespread than the thalidomide disaster, untold lives were lost between 1949 and 1958 through the administration of inappropriate doses of chloramphenicol to newborn infants.
  • (14) It comes two years after the BSC stripped another Vedanta subsidiary of a safety award after the Observer drew its attention to the firm's involvement in one of the worst industrial tragedies in India's recent history.
  • (15) A s the protests in Turkey continue , spare a thought for the man whose personal tragedy few have the grace to acknowledge – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
  • (16) During his visit to Europe he did not speak at length on the subject of the shooting, but seemed more willing than Giuliani to distance the Dallas tragedy from the Black Lives Matter movement.
  • (17) But obviously if people have been injured or indeed killed that is a tragedy and our sympathies are with the victims and their families.” He added: “We never condone violence – whatever the cause.
  • (18) Sue Capon, who runs Brokerswood country park, said everyone was still coming to terms with the tragedy.
  • (19) They have taken a series of safety measures over the past decade aimed at preventing crowd crushes after tragedies such as the stampede in 2006, which resulted in 350 deaths, a building collapse in the same year which killed 76 and a stampede that killed more than 200 people in 2004.
  • (20) But the tragedy in Scotland is a reminder that public confidence – and even lives – are on the line too.