debacle

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“
Afghanistan's runoff election must be delayed -- or another debacle is a virtual certainty.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A sudden, disastrous collapse, downfall, or defeat; a rout.
  2. noun A total, often ludicrous failure.
  3. noun The breaking up of ice in a river.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Others who participated in the peace process during that period have reached a remarkable consensus that responsibility for the debacle was shared by all the parties. —  t r u t h o u t
  • And yet the real victims of this debacle are the Palestinians who are being brutalised under an occupation that sees no end. —  altmuslim
  • Sources say that Honda was determined that it would not be embarrassed in the way that cricket was by a Stanford-style debacle, which is why Brawn and Fry were encouraged to mount a management buyout that could turn out to be one of the most successful decisions in sport. —  Top stories from Times Online
  • What we have here is all pain and no gain for the taxpayers roped into this debacle, which is proving to be the story of the entire banking bailout. —  The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
  • "What we have here is all pain and no gain for the taxpayers roped into this debacle, which is proving to be the story of the entire banking bailout." —  The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

meltdown ·  fiasco ·  setback ·  implosion ·  upheaval ·  collapse

Used in the same contextWord Family

debacle:   debacles
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French débâcle, from débâcler, to unbar, from Old French desbacler : des-, de- + bacler, to bar (from Vulgar Latin *bacculāre, from Latin baculum, rod; see bak- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French débácle, a break-up, overthrow, from débácler, break up, as ice does, unbar, from dé- privative (from Latin dis-, apart) + bácler, bar, shut, from Provencal baclar, bar, from Latin baculus, a stick, staff: see baculus.
 

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/dəˈbækl/
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