debacle

[ dee-bah-kuhl, dey-, duh-, -bak-uhl ]

noun

1. a general breakup or dispersion; sudden downfall or rout:

   The revolution ended in a debacle.

2. a complete collapse or failure.

   Synonyms: calamity, catastrophe, fiasco, ruin, disaster

3. a breaking up of ice in a river. Compare embacle def.
4. a violent rush of waters or ice.

debacle

/ dɪ-; deɪˈbɑːkəl /

noun

1. a sudden disastrous collapse or defeat, esp one involving a disorderly retreat; rout
2. the breaking up of ice in a river during spring or summer, often causing flooding
3. a violent rush of water carrying along debris

Word History and Origins

Origin of debacle¹

1795–1805; < French débâcle, derivative of débâcler to unbar, clear, equivalent to dé- dis- ¹ + bâcler to bar ≪ Latin baculum stick, rod

Word History and Origins

Origin of debacle¹

C19: from French débâcle, from Old French desbacler to unbolt, ultimately from Latin baculum rod, staff

Example Sentences

There were derelictions and debacles, dreams deferred and hopes dashed.

From Time

After that debacle, Sanders’ team sought a paid broker to help negotiate the city’s leases and explore other solutions.

From Voice of San Diego

He wrote a long memo to Monroe describing the need to put out a government statement quickly, thus seizing the narrative and putting the most positive light on the debacle rather than letting the British control the story.

From Washington Post

Meanwhile, the debacle at Stanford Medical Center, where a system to rank potential vaccine recipients managed to ignore frontline doctors, was proof that you could over-engineer the system too.

From MIT Technology Review

Thompson left the city in August following a new set of high-profile debacles.

From Voice of San Diego

But after Rolling Stone's rape story debacle, how much momentum does the call to ban fraternities have left?

From The Daily Beast

“I believe we are in the hour of the debacle of the institutions, they cannot be any more rotten,” said Padre Goyo.

From The Daily Beast

During this debacle, she read some medical literature on self-dehydration.

From The Daily Beast

In his post-debacle presser, President Obama told the nation “I hear you.”

From The Daily Beast

In the event, debacle that it was, Kennedy refused to listen to them.

From The Daily Beast

It was a return to a state of mind comparable to that which had rendered possible the debacle of the Roman Empire.

From Project Gutenberg

The German advance which ended in this debacle has been the costliest defeat in point of materials which they have yet suffered.

From Project Gutenberg

Our own sthetic movement was killed almost instantaneously by the Wilde debacle.

From Project Gutenberg

Bruce Gordon looked at the debacle left behind the drunken, looting mob.

From Project Gutenberg

In the Baltic the situation became very difficult owing first to the Russian revolution and, finally, to the Russian debacle.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• beating
• breakdown
• collapse
• crash
• defeat
• devastation
• disaster
• downfall
• drubbing
• failure
• fiasco
• reversal
• rout
• wreck