fiasco

CEFRC1

/fiˈæs.kəʊ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A complete failure, often causing embarrassment.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A ludicrous or humiliating situation. Some effort that went quite wrong.

Examples

  • Up to that point, every attempt had resulted in a fiasco.

  • Whatever the reason, forfeiting the trade that we finally got on track is a fiasco.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /fiˈæs.koʊ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A wine bottle in a (usually straw) jacket.

  2. A sudden or unexpected failure.

More examples

In context

  • We'll never live this fiasco down.

  • His speech was a fiasco that left the audience confused.

  • The event turned into a complete fiasco when the power went out.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The outdoor concert turned into a complete blank due to the sudden storm.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Borrowed from Italian fiasco (“bottle, flask”), from Late Latin flasca, flascō (“bottle, container”), from Frankish *flaskā (“bottle, flask”) from Proto-Germanic *flaskǭ (“bottle”); see flask. “Failure” sense comes through French faire fiasco from Italian theatrical slang far fiasco (literally “to make a bottle”), of uncertain origin; perhaps from an expression fare il fiasco, meaning to play a game with the forfeit that the loser will buy the next bottle or round of drinks. Doublet of flacon, flagon, and flask.