Debacle

How to spell debacle

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce debacle

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does debacle mean?

1. nounA sudden and complete failure that ends in chaos or humiliation.

Debacle in a sentence

• The product launch turned into a complete debacle when the website crashed.

• The budget meeting descended into a debacle once the figures were questioned.

Where does debacle come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the nineteenth century straight from the French débâcle, a noun built on the verb débâcler, meaning 'to unbar' or 'to free from obstruction'. That verb joined the prefix dé- (expressing removal or undoing) to bâcler (to bar or block up), so the literal sense was the unblocking of something held back. In French it described a very physical event: the sudden breaking up of river ice in spring and the violent rush of water and debris that followed. From that image of a chaotic, unstoppable collapse the meaning broadened to any sudden ruinous failure or fiasco. English borrowed the figurative sense in the 1800s, keeping the French circumflex on the vowel as débâcle, though in everyday English the accents are usually dropped, which is part of why the plain spelling 'debacle' can look unfamiliar.

How the word is built

• de- (from French dé-, undo/away)
• bacle (from bâcler: to bar, block)
• -le