What does word majeure mean?

What does word majeure mean?
Force majeure "chance occurrence, unavoidable accident",is a common clause in contracts that essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties, such as a war, strike, riot, crime, or an event described by the legal term act of God (such as hurricane, flooding, earthquake, volcanic eruption, etc.), prevents one or both parties from fulfilling their obligations under the contract. In practice, most force majeure clauses do not excuse a party's nonperformance entirely, but only suspend it for the duration of the force majeure.