snafu

American  

[sna-foo, snaf-oo] / snæˈfu, ˈsnæf u /

noun

1. a badly confused or ridiculously muddled situation.

   A ballot snafu in the election led to a recount.

   Synonyms:

   foul-up, mess, confusion, disorder, disarray, bedlam, snarl

   Antonyms:

   order, organization, calm

2. 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!

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adjective

1. Also snafued in disorder; out of control; chaotic.

   What you’re proposing is a snafu scheme that simply won't work.

verb (used with object)

snafued, snafuing

1. to throw into disorder; muddle.

   Losing his passport snafued the whole vacation.

   Synonyms:

   bungle, mess up, spoil

snafu British  

/ snæˈfuː /

noun

1. confusion or chaos regarded as the normal state

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adjective

1. (postpositive) confused or muddled up, as usual

verb

1. (tr) to throw into chaos

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.

Example Sentences

A snafu in updating beneficiary information is in the way.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 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

The only real snafu of the day was with the ball-tracking technology that was supposed to record movement data on each of his pitches.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 15, 2025

I imagined the usual plots—a helicopter rescue, a tunnel, a paperwork snafu and mistaken release.

From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos

Related Words

• blunder
• foul-up
• miscalculation
• misunderstanding
• mix-up
• slipup