fiasco

[fee-as-koh, -ah-skoh]

noun

plural

fiascos, fiascoes 

1. a complete and ignominious failure.

   Synonyms: bomb, flop, debacle, catastrophe, disaster

2. a round-bottomed glass flask for wine, especially Chianti, fitted with a woven, protective raffia basket that also enables the bottle to stand upright.

fiasco

/ fɪˈæskəʊ /

noun

1. a complete failure, esp one that is ignominious or humiliating

Word History and Origins

Origin of fiasco¹

1850–55; < Italian: literally, bottle < Germanic ( flask ¹ ); sense “failure” from Italian phrase far fiasco to fail, literally, to make a bottle, idiom of uncertain origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of fiasco¹

C19: from Italian, literally: _flask ; sense development obscure

Example Sentences

But Williamson said Ofqual, the exams regulator, was responsible for some of the fiasco, saying that if he had pushed them to use teacher-assessed grades in the first place, they would have "resigned".

Read more on BBC

"The buck for this fiasco ultimately stops with the prime minister."

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Despite the litany of fiascoes over the last few years, probation leaders still argued in court filings that Bonta had gone too far.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

How can this fiasco remain a topic of a debate, days later?

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It’s a different story when you look back at the New Coke fiasco of 1985.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• blunder 
• breakdown 
• debacle 
• disaster 
• embarrassment 
• failure 
• farce 
• flap 
• flop 
• mess 
• stunt 
• washout