debacle

American  

[day-, -bak-uhl, duh-, dee-bah-kuhl] / deɪ-, -ˈbæk əl, də-, diˈbɑ kəl /

noun

• debacles
  plural

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.

4. a violent rush of waters or ice.

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debacle British  

/ deɪˈbɑːkəl, dɪ- /

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• debacles
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of debacle

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

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Explanation

Use debacle to refer to a fiasco, disaster, or great failure. If several dogs run onto the field during the big baseball game, tripping players and chewing up the bases, you can call the whole event a debacle. Debacle is sometimes used to describe a military defeat. If your army retreats, that's one thing. If your army is outmaneuvered and ends up huddled in a valley, surrounded on all sides by the enemy, forced to sing 90s sitcom theme songs by their savage captors — that's a debacle. Debacle comes from the French débâcler, "to clear," — the prefix des- means "completely, utterly" and the verb bacler means "to block."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

debacle debacles

Alexandra grinned as she recounted the recent tour debacle to the crowd.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

Whether Iran had the ability to pull off such an attack isn’t clear, but the debacle shows how advances in technology and shifting shape of war are changing age-old tactics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

This debacle over your future is a first-world embarrassment of riches.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

In the wake of the Carruthers debacle, substantial questions were raised about Fowler’s ethics and competence, but they did not deter Tennessee from calling on him again.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026

Of course there was the cellar debacle, but Grandma Star also sends her books about Native history and culture and let slip that Mom used a tribal scholarship for grad school.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Expert input is essential to policymaking—but avoiding policy debacles means understanding the experts’ proper role.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

As the many debacles over inheritances show, it can often get worse as we get older.

From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026

Calling such presidential debacles someone’s “Katrina” has been overdone.

From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2026

The debacles “may have repercussions on the financial system more broadly,” warns junk bond guru Marty Fridson, chief executive officer of FridsonVision High Yield Strategy.

From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2025

Undoubtedly it will finally be repressed, but the danger of fresh debacles is weighing constantly on the country.

From History of the World War An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War by Francis Andrew March

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Related Words

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

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