i Register
In some senses, debacle is marked as figuratively. Watch for register when choosing this word.
debacle
UK /deɪˈbɑː.kəl/ US /dɪˈbɑ.kəl/
noun 2
Collocations
4ADJ.
great, whole
VERB + DEBACLE
became, forestalled, man-made
DEBACLE + NOUN
bay, partisans, prudhoe
PREP.
with
Definitions
noun
1
An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences.
The event proved to be a great debacle for the partisans of this prognosticator.
The result is a military approach which maximizes political tensions with Russia […] and lays the ground for a military debacle.
2
A breaking up of a natural dam, usually made of ice, by a river and the ensuing rush of water.
[…] so that in extreme cases the latter may even be dammed up for a time, and a debacle be the consequence, when the main river overcomes the resistance opposed to it, […]
For several months after the debacle just described, the river Dranse, having no settled channel, shifted its position continually […]
Thesaurus
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
601
The event proved to be a great debacle for the partisans of this prognosticator.
Wiktionary02
The result is a military approach which maximizes political tensions with Russia […] and lays the ground for a military debacle.
Wiktionary03
The BP Prudhoe Bay debacle [the Prudhoe Bay oil spill] thus provides but the latest in a long line of reasons why leasing this region of the NPR-A is a bad idea.
Wiktionary04
Had I but known what she intended, I might have forestalled this debacle.
Tatoeba · #211961305
What was at first a natural disaster rapidly became a man-made debacle.
Tatoeba · #214309306
We're fed up with the whole debacle.
Tatoeba · #9962946Usage Notes
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