Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An overwhelming, unanticipated, and unpreventable event, usually caused by a natural force, the occurrence of which may exempt a party from performing the obligations of a contract.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- (Law) A superior force which under certain circumstances is held to exempt from contract obligations; inevitable accident; -- a civil-law term used as nearly equivalent to, but broader than, the common-law term act of God (which see).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun law A
greater force ; "act of God ";unavoidable accident .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a natural and unavoidable catastrophe that interrupts the expected course of events
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Latin vīs māior : vīs, force + māior, greater.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin
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Examples
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hernesheir commented on the word vis major
Cerberus ate my homework.
January 23, 2013