Debacle

Pronunciation ,

• UK IPA: /deɪˈbɑː.kÉ™l/, /dɛˈbɑː.kÉ™l/
• US IPA: /dɪˈbÉ‘.kÉ™l/, /dəˈbÉ‘.kÉ™l/, /deɪˈbÉ‘.kÉ™l/
• Rhymes: -ɑːkÉ™l

Alternative forms

• débâcle
• debâcle rare
• débacle rare

Origin

From French débâcle, from débâcler ("to unbar; unleash") from prefix dé- ("un-") + bâcler ("to dash, bind, bar, block"), from Middle French, from Old French bâcler, bacler ("to hold in place, prop a door or window open"), from Middle Dutch bakkelen ("to freeze artificially, lock in place"), from bakken ("to stick, stick hard, glue together"). Also attested in Old French desbacler ("to clear a harbour by getting ships unloaded to make room for incoming ships with lading") and in Occitan baclar ("to close"). Modern sense of "bar, block" stems from influence from Latin baculum ("staff"). The word débâcle is first attested in the early 19th century.

Full definition of debacle

Noun

1. An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences.
• 1952, Maimonides, translated by Boaz Cohen, ,The event proved to be a great debacle for the partisans of this prognosticator.
• 1996, Richard L. Canby, "SOF: An Alternative Perspective on Doctrine", in Schultz et al (eds), Roles And Missions of SOF In The Aftermath Of The Cold War, p. 188,The result is a military approach which maximizes political tensions with Russia ... and lays the ground for a military debacle.
• 2002, Jacqueline West, South America, Central America and the Carribean 2002, Routledge, ISBN 1-857431-21-9, page 68,The Falklands-Malvinas débâcle provided the opportunity to restructure the military High Command; Alfonsín removed anti-democratic senior officers and replaced them with more co-operative ones.
• 2007, BP pipeline failure: hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, "Statement by Peter Van Tuyn", p. 46,The BP Prudhoe Bay debacle 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.
2. (ecology) A breaking up of a natural dam, usually made of ice, by a river and the ensuing rush of water.
• 1836, Henry De La Beche, How to Observe: Geology, p. 69... 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, ...
• 1837, John Lee Comstock, Outlines of Geology, p. 51For several months after the debacle just described, the river Dranse, having no settled channel, shifted its position continually ...
• 1872, Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution'', p. 425,When this débâcle commences ..., the masses of ice, drifting with the current and unable to pass, are hurled upon those already soldered together; thus an enormous barrier is formed ...

Usage notes

Although authorities say that the word is properly spelled with both accents their use tends to be variable, with either or both often dropped, particularly in non-technical writing. Its headword in the online Oxford English Dictionary has none.

Synonyms

• (An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously) fiasco