debacle
pronunciation
How to pronounce debacle in British English:
UK [deɪˈbɑ:kl]
How to pronounce debacle in American English:
US [dɪˈbɑkəl,-ˈbækəl]
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- Noun:
- a sudden and violent collapse
- flooding caused by a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river during the spring or summer
- a sound defeat
Word Origin
- débâcle
- débâcle: [19] A débâcle is etymologically an ‘act of unbarring’, the notion behind it being that once a restraining bar is removed, a rush of disasters follows. It was borrowed at the start of the 19th century (originally in the technical geological sense of a ‘sudden violent surge of water in a river’) from French, where it was a derivative of débâcler, a verb formed from dé- ‘de-, un-’ and bâcler ‘bar’. This was acquired from Provençal baclar ‘bar a door’, which came from medieval Latin *bacculāre, a derivative of Latin bacculus ‘stick’ (responsible also for English bacillus and bacterium).=> bacillus, bacterium
- debacle (n.)
- "disaster," 1848, from French débâcle "downfall, collapse, disaster" (17c.), a figurative use, literally "breaking up (of ice on a river)," extended to the violent flood that follows when the river ice melts in spring; from débâcler "to free," from Middle French desbacler "to unbar," from des- "off" + bacler "to bar," from Vulgar Latin *bacculare, from Latin baculum "stick" (see bacillus). Sense of "disaster" was present in French before English borrowed the word.
Example
- 1. The debacle is weakening germany 's ruling coalition .
- 2. This last debacle largely explains the deficits experienced and forecast .
- 3. In one recent debacle in laghman , a province east of kabul , 300 afghan soldiers , acting independently of nato , were ambushed by the taliban and many were killed or captured .
- 4. Mr martin did not force those implicated in the expenses debacle to submit dodgy claims .
- 5. During the mortgage debacle dimon 's reputation for averting risk suffered a hit .