fiasco

[fee-as-koh, -ah-skoh]

noun

plural

fiascos, fiascoes 

1. a complete and ignominious failure.

   Synonyms: bomb, flop, debacle, catastrophe, disaster

2. a round-bottomed glass flask for wine, especially Chianti, fitted with a woven, protective raffia basket that also enables the bottle to stand upright.

fiasco

/ fɪˈæskəʊ /

noun

1. a complete failure, esp one that is ignominious or humiliating

Word History and Origins

Origin of fiasco¹

1850–55; < Italian: literally, bottle < Germanic ( flask ¹ ); sense “failure” from Italian phrase far fiasco to fail, literally, to make a bottle, idiom of uncertain origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of fiasco¹

C19: from Italian, literally: _flask ; sense development obscure

Example Sentences

It’s a different story when you look back at the New Coke fiasco of 1985.

From Salon

One can only hope that these are growing pains, that as with early dubbing fiascoes, the streaming services will realize that writing and editing around commercials is an art form in itself.

From Los Angeles Times

Paramount also wanted to avoid any public relations fiascoes when Stone and Parker take the stage Thursday at fan-fest Comic-Con in San Diego.

From Los Angeles Times

So after the welfare fiasco, the whips were asked to make a list of those who had been actively trying to organise resistance to government plans, rather than just expressing objections.

From BBC

The welfare vote fiasco is far from the first thing that has gone wrong.

From BBC

Related Words

• blunder 
• breakdown 
• debacle 
• disaster 
• embarrassment 
• failure 
• farce 
• flap 
• flop 
• mess 
• stunt 
• washout