debacle Definition
de·ba·cle (di bä′kəl, -bak′əl; dā-)
noun
- a breaking up of ice in a river, etc.
- a rush of debris-filled waters
- an overwhelming defeat or rout
- a total, often ludicrous, collapse or failure
Etymology: Fr débâcle, breakup, overthrow < débâcler, to break up < dé-, de-, + bâcler, to bar, prob. < VL *bacculare < *bacculum, var. of L baculum, staff: see bacillus
debacle Synonyms
debacle Usage Examples
Possessives
- yesterday: The answer may lie in yesterday's debacle over a Working Group on Biotechnology ( 3 ).
- year: The fourth boat rectified last year's lower boat debacle with four swift bumps, all within the minute.
- week: After last week's debacle, this week's game at home to Pheonix was an important one.
Converse of object
- follow: Following this debacle, he fled from Heaven, pursued by the hundred thousand soldiers of same.
- avoid: And if we are to avoid the debacle of Seattle and the disappointments of Cancun the richest countries must agree to move.
- ensue: The ensuing debacle played a prominent part in the fomenting of the 1917 mutinies in the French Army.
- see: Almost everyday we see pension debacles in the press whether government or company pension schemes.
- remember: I remember the debacle of the commissioning of OTRU.
Adjective modifier
- Welsh: Hadden has since maintained a diplomatic silence over the mistakes to be avoided from the latest Welsh debacle.
- recent: The response to their recent election debacle was to say ' no turning back ' .
- whole: In a matter of weeks the whole debacle could be quietly forgotten.
- foreign: The foreign prisoners debacle has led to further pressures.
- current: David Wright - Friday, 18 August 2006, at 10:44 pm What do you folks think of the current security debacles?
- late: Look at the latest debacle on SIPP's for example.
Noun used with modifier
- prisoner: The foreign prisoners debacle has led to further pressures.
- pension: Almost everyday we see pension debacles in the press whether government or company pension schemes.
- tax: Who can forget the fuel tax debacle last autumn?
- leadership: The leadership debacle provided opposition parties and the media with an open season.
- rootkit: Think last year's Sony rootkit debacle writ large.
- election: The response to their recent election debacle was to say ' no turning back ' .

