Pronunciations (7)
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/deɪˈbɑː.kəl/
Pronunciation notes
- UK
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/dɛˈbɑː.kəl/
Pronunciation notes
- UK
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/dɪˈbɑ.kəl/
Pronunciation notes
- US
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/dəˈbɑ.kəl/
Pronunciation notes
- US
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/deɪˈbɑ.kəl/
Pronunciation notes
- US
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deɪˈbɑː.kəl
Pronunciation notes
- GB
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dɪˈbɑ.kəl
Pronunciation notes
- US
Noun
An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences.
Usage- Figurative
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The event proved to be a great debacle for the partisans of this prognosticator.
The result is a military approach which maximizes political tensions with Russia […] and lays the ground for a military debacle.
More examples (1)
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.
A breaking up of a natural dam, usually made of ice, by a river and the ensuing rush of water.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
[…] 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, […]
For several months after the debacle just described, the river Dranse, having no settled channel, shifted its position continually […]
More examples (1)
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 […]
Noun
a sudden and violent collapse
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
flooding caused by a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river during the spring or summer
- Broader terms
a sound defeat