Word of the day · 14 June 2026
debacle
/deɪˈbɑːkəl/
noun
A sudden and complete failure; a fiasco.
In a sentence
- The product launch turned into a debacle when the site crashed.
- Historians still debate what caused the campaign’s debacle.
- A scoring debacle in the final minutes ended the season.
In an image
Origin
From French débâcle (breaking up of ice, collapse), from débâcler (to unbar, break free).
History
French used débâcle for ice breaking up on a river, then for military and social collapse. English kept the disaster sense for bungled launches, games and policies. A debacle is not a quiet miss; it is failure that spills into view. The flood image still sits under the word.
Nearby words
fiasco · collapse · disaster
Collapse that is public, messy and hard to spin.