snafu
Americannoun
-
a badly confused or ridiculously muddled situation.
A ballot snafu in the election led to a recount.
- Antonyms:
- order, organization, calm
-
an error or miscalculation, especially one leading to a confused or muddled situation.
After some snafu deleted all my data files, I've finally managed to rebuild everything—I think!
adjective
verb (used with object)
noun
adjective
verb
Etymology
Origin of snafu
First recorded in 1940–45; s(ituation) n(ormal): a(ll) f(ucked) u(p); sometimes euphemistically construed as f(ouled) u(p)
Explanation
A snafu is an obstacle or glitch that keeps you from accomplishing something. We hoped to get to the campsite before sundown, but due to several snafus along the way, including a run-in with a bear, we didn't set up camp until midnight. Snafu was originally a World War II-era military acronym standing for "situation normal: all fouled up" (although stronger language was frequently used in place of the word "fouled"). Back in the military, a snafu would have been a dangerous situation, but this word is used now for any kind of error, goof, or mixed-up situation. If you drive all the way to the baseball stadium before realizing you left your tickets at home, that's a snafu.
Vocabulary lists containing snafu
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"School's Out for Summer"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Adrian recalls a snafu from the Munich Film Festival, but can’t quite remember the details.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
Perhaps half of the increase stemmed from a statistical snafu tied to last year’s lengthy government shutdown.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
In the end, it turned out to be a more mundane scheduling snafu.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
This column has been on virtual death watch for his presidential clout since the Signal chat snafu in March.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
Actually, normalcy didn’t seem so bad after my first snafu.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
His haplessly snafued Sad Sack became the image of the downtrodden G.I. doomed to a perpetual losing battle with his own top sergeants.
From Time Magazine Archive
The dangerous shakiness of Snefru's snafued pyramid must have been known to contemporary Egyptians.
From Time Magazine Archive
Detroit's auto-industry analysts estimated potential losses at $130 million, with 300,000 workers idled and production schedules snafued.
From Time Magazine Archive
If the interpreter got really snafued, a red light would halt the trial.
From Time Magazine Archive
When 100,000 visitors come to town and everybody expects to be treated like Somebody, even A-listers can get snafued.
From Time Magazine Archive
By every device Nelson & Co. could conceive, the setup eliminates diffuse authority, parallel agencies, snafuing red tape, all other bureaucratic hindrances to efficient administration.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
