Fiasco Meaning
/fiˈæs.kəʊ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA sudden or unexpected failure.
nounA ludicrous or humiliating situation. Some effort that went quite wrong.
Sentence Examples
We'll never live this fiasco down.
Whatever the reason, forfeiting the trade that we finally got on track is a fiasco.
Up to that point, every attempt had resulted in a fiasco.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The outdoor concert turned into a complete ____ due to the sudden storm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The entire event was a complete ____, with the guest speaker failing to show up and the food arriving late.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
""Well, doctor," said Mr. Curtis, heartily, "I am glad for your sake that the financial part of the enterprise has succeeded so well, because, the more I think over the scheme, the more I am convinced that it will prove a complete fiasco in practice. And that reminds me that there is one question which I wish to ask you.""
— 1898, Clement Fezandié, Through the Earth:
"There was the fiasco about Olga coming to the tableaux, which was the cause of her sending that very tart reply, via Miss Lyall, to Lady Ambermere's impertinence, and the very next morning, Lady Ambermere, coming again into Riseholme, perhaps for that very purpose, had behaved to Lucia as Lucia had behaved to the moon, and cut her. That was irritating, but the counter-irritant to it had been that Lady Ambermere had then gone to Olga's, and been told that she was not at home, though she was very audibly practising in her music-room at the time."
— 1920, Edward Frederic Benson, Queen Lucia:
"I sent for the porter and when he came I told him in Italian to get me a bottle of Cinzano at the wine shop, a fiasco of chianti and the evening papers. He went away and brought them wrapped in newspaper, unwrapped them and, when I asked him to, drew the corks and put the wine and vermouth under the bed."
— 1929 May–October, Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, 1st British edition, London: Jonathan Cape […], published 1929, →OCLC:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The outdoor concert turned into a complete ____ due to the sudden storm.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The entire event was a complete ____, with the guest speaker failing to show up and the food arriving late.