fiasco Hear it!

fiasco¹ Definition

fias·co (fē as)

noun pl. -·coes or -·cos

a complete failure; esp., an ambitious project that ends as a ridiculous failure

Etymology: Fr < It (far) fiasco, to fail < fiasco, bottle (< Gmc *flasko, flask)

fiasco² Definition

fias·co (fē äs)

noun pl. -·coes or -·chi-kē

a bottle; esp., a long-necked wine bottle with a rounded lower portion covered in woven straw

fiasco Synonyms

fiasco

n.

fiasco Usage Examples

Possessives

  • year: Mr Todd: Number 1 - To stop a repeat of last year's fiasco; no more animals are allowed on site.

Converse of object

  • avoid: Her husband, knowing she could not play, shut the piano to avoid a fiasco.
  • follow: Centrale Stop, in Tamworth Road opened on 10th December 2005 following a major fiasco over the finances.
  • become: The West Coast Mainline has become the biggest fiasco in the short history of rail privatization.
  • see: I was one of the crowd who saw this famous fiasco.
  • have: But sadly he had a major plumbing fiasco, where pipes cracked and flooded his house.
  • remember: UCAG remembers other well-known fiascos such as, for example, the M25 motorway, which was over capacity before it officially opened.

Adjective modifier

  • foreign: The Mail reports that the civil servants responsible for the Home Office foreign prisoners fiasco will keep their jobs ( Times, p.4 ).
  • whole: Finally we took the message into the closing session of the whole fiasco.
  • recent: The recent fiasco around weapons of mass destruction springs to mind.
  • complete: This whole Transco thing seems to be a complete fiasco.
  • total: However Carmen was not the total fiasco some writers have inferred.
  • late: Conservatives have laid the blame for the latest tax credits fiasco firmly at the door of Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Noun used with modifier

  • A-level: How to do good and have fun Young people caught in this summer's A-level fiasco may decide to take a last-minute gap year.
  • immigration: Check back next week for part II of the whole immigration fiasco.
  • prisoner: Although the prisoner fiasco may have ended those hopes, he would be seen as a credible candidate for Deputy Prime Minister.
  • exam: Witness the exams fiasco last year where at least Estelle Morris had the courage to stand aside.
  • election: The Middlesex election fiasco led to further problems for the ministry.
  • pension: Here we have another in the long line of government pensions fiascos.