Definition

1. Noun:
   • Disaster / Calamity: A sudden, severe event causing great damage, loss, or suffering. It implies a large-scale misfortune.
   • Catastrophe: An event causing great and often sudden damage or suffering; a disaster of extreme scale.
   • Great misfortune / Affliction: A state of serious distress or adversity brought about by an unfortunate event.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Lũ lụt là một tai hoạ thiên nhiên khủng khiếp. (The flood was a terrible natural disaster.)
  • Tai hoạ đó đã cướp đi sinh mạng của hàng trăm người. (That catastrophe claimed the lives of hundreds of people.)
  • Gia đình họ gặp phải một tai hoạ bất ngờ. (Their family encountered a sudden great misfortune.)

Advanced Usage

• The word "tai hoạ" often carries a connotation of an unavoidable or fateful event, sometimes with a slightly more literary tone than some synonyms.
• It can be used metaphorically to describe a person who causes constant trouble or ruin.
  • Đứa trẻ hư đó thực sự là một tai hoạ cho gia đình. (That spoiled child is a real calamity for the family.)

Variants and Related Words

• Thảm hoạ (n): catastrophe, tragedy. Often used interchangeably with "tai hoạ," but "thảm hoạ" can sometimes emphasize the tragic, grievous aspect more strongly.

  • Vụ nổ nhà máy là một thảm hoạ công nghiệp. (The factory explosion was an industrial catastrophe.)

• Hoạ (n): misfortune, disaster. A shorter, sometimes more classical form found in compounds.

  • Thiên hoạ (n): natural disaster.

Synonyms

• Disaster: A sudden accident or natural catastrophe causing great damage.
• Calamity: An event causing great and often sudden damage or distress.
• Catastrophe: An event causing sudden great damage or suffering.
• Misfortune: Bad luck or an unfortunate condition.

Related Idioms

• Mang hoạ vào thân: to bring disaster upon oneself.

  • Anh ta không nghe lời khuyên và mang hoạ vào thân. (He didn't listen to the advice and brought disaster upon himself.)

• Hoạ vô đơn chí: misfortunes never come singly / it never rains but it pours.

  • Ô tô hỏng, rồi mất việc, đúng là hoạ vô đơn chí. (The car broke down, then he lost his job—misfortunes never come singly.)