debacle

noun de·ba·cle \dē-ˈbä-kəl, di-, -ˈba-; ÷ˈde-bə-kəl\

: a great disaster or complete failure

Full Definition of DEBACLE

: a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river

: a violent disruption (as of an army) : rout

a : a great disaster

b : a complete failure : fiasco

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Variants of DEBACLE

de·ba·cle also dé·bâ·cle \also dā-ˈbäk(l^ə)\

Examples of DEBACLE

What a debacle. Next thing he knew, one of the patients would turn up dead. —T. Coraghessan Boyle, The Road to Wellville, 1993
So what had been intended as an orderly hearing ended in a general debacle, for as soon as Fray Domingo saw his protector dragged toward the exit door, he leaped at the guards and began pummeling them. —James A. Michener, Texas, 1985
Savings themselves evaporate in the course of such a debacle and thus the very wherewithal for reversing and retrieving the situation is lost … —Jane Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations, 1984
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Origin of DEBACLE

French débâcle, from débâcler to clear, from Middle French desbacler, from des- de- + bacler to block, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *bacculare, from Latin baculum staff

First Known Use: 1802