debacle

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See also: débâcle and débâclé

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French débâcle, from débâcler (to unbar; unleash) from prefix dé- (un-) + bâcler (to dash, bind, bar, block) [perhaps from unattested Middle French and Old French *bâcler, *bacler (to hold in place, prop a door or window open)], from Vulgar Latin *bacculare, from Latin baculum (rod, staff used for support), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-.

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).

The hypothesised derivation from Middle Dutch *bakkelen (to freeze artificially, lock in place), a frequentative of bakken (to stick, stick hard, glue together) no longer seems likely due to the lack of attestation of *bakkelen in Middle Dutch and by it having the limited meaning of "freeze superficially" in Dutch.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK) IPA(key): /deɪˈbɑː.kəl/, /dɛˈbɑː.kəl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /dɪˈbɑ.kəl/, /dəˈbɑ.kəl/, /deɪˈbɑ.kəl/
  • (file)
    ,
    (file)
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɑːkəl
  • Hyphenation: de‧ba‧cle

Noun[edit]

debacle (plural debacles)

  1. An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences. [from early 19th c.]
    • 1952, Boaz Cohen, Epistle to Yemen, translation of original by Maimonides, page 5:
      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, editor, Roles And Missions of SOF In The Aftermath Of The Cold War[1], page 188:
      The result is a military approach which maximizes political tensions with Russia [] and lays the ground for a military debacle.
    • 2007, “Statement by Peter Van Tuyn”, in BP pipeline failure: hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, page 46:
      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.
  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[2], page 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[3], page 51:
      For 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[4], page 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[edit]

  • The older spelling with accents is no longer listed at all or only mentioned as an alternative in the online versions of most major British and American dictionaries.

Synonyms[edit]

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

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  • 2005, Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, The Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd edition revised), Oxford University Press, →ISBN
  • 1998, The Dorling Kindersley Illustrated Oxford Dictionary, Dorling Kindersley Limited and Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 211
  • 2006, Ed. Michael Allaby, A Dictionary of Ecology, Oxford University Press, →ISBN
  • 1999, Ed. Robert Allen, Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, →ISBN
  • 1999, Ed. Jennifer Speake, The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English, Oxford University Press, →ISBN

Anagrams[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowing of French débâcle.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /deːˈbaː.kəl/, /dəˈbaː.kəl/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: de‧ba‧cle
  • Rhymes: -aːkəl

Noun[edit]

debacle m or f or n (plural debacles, diminutive debacletje n)

  1. debacle

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French débâcle, or from English.

Noun[edit]

debacle f (plural debacles)

  1. debacle

Further reading[edit]