debacle

== English == === Alternative forms === débâcle debâcle (rare) débacle (rare) === Etymology === From French débâcle, from débâcler (“to unbar; unleash”) from prefix dé- (“un-”) + bâcler (“to dash, bind, bar, block”) [perhaps from unattested Middle French and Old French *bâcler, *bacler (“to hold in place, prop a door or window open”)], from Vulgar Latin *bacculare, from Latin baculum (“rod, staff used for support”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-. Also attested in Old French desbacler (“to clear a harbour by getting ships unloaded to make room for incoming ships with lading”) and in Occitan baclar (“to close”). The hypothesised derivation from Middle Dutch *bakkelen (“to freeze artificially, lock in place”), a frequentative of bakken (“to stick, stick hard, glue together”) no longer seems likely due to the lack of attestation of *bakkelen in Middle Dutch and by it having the limited meaning of "freeze superficially" in Dutch. === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /deɪˈbɑː.kəl/, /dɛˈbɑː.kəl/ (US) IPA(key): /dɪˈbɑ.kəl/, /dəˈbɑ.kəl/, /deɪˈbɑ.kəl/ , Rhymes: -ɑːkəl Hyphenation: de‧ba‧cle === Noun === debacle (plural debacles) (figurative) An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences. [from early 19th c.] Synonym: fiasco (geology) A breaking up of a natural dam, usually made of ice, by a river and the ensuing rush of water. ==== Usage notes ==== The older spelling with accents is no longer listed at all or only mentioned as an alternative in the online versions of most major British and American dictionaries. ==== Translations ==== ==== References ==== 2005, Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, The Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd edition revised), Oxford University Press, →ISBN 1998, The Dorling Kindersley Illustrated Oxford Dictionary, Dorling Kindersley Limited and Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 211 2006, Ed. Michael Allaby, A Dictionary of Ecology, Oxford University Press, →ISBN 1999, Ed. Robert Allen, Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, →ISBN 1999, Ed. Jennifer Speake, The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English, Oxford University Press, →ISBN === Anagrams === belaced == Dutch == === Alternative forms === debâcle (before 1996) === Etymology === Borrowing of French débâcle. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /deːˈbaː.kəl/, /dəˈbaː.kəl/ Hyphenation: de‧ba‧cle Rhymes: -aːkəl === Noun === debacle f or n (plural debacles, diminutive debacletje n) debacle == Spanish == === Etymology === Borrowed from French débâcle, or from English. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /deˈbakle/ [d̪eˈβ̞a.kle] Rhymes: -akle Syllabification: de‧ba‧cle === Noun === debacle f (plural debacles) debacle === Further reading === “debacle”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025 == Swedish == === Noun === debacle n a debacle ==== Declension ==== ==== See also ==== fiasko flopp misslyckande === References === “debacle”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish) “debacle”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)