Debacle

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Debacle \De*ba"cle\, n. [F. d['e]b[^a]cle, fr. d['e]b[^a]cler to
     unbar, break loose; pref. d['e]- (prob. = L. dis) + b[^a]cler
     to bolt, fr. L. baculum a stick.]
     1. (Geol.) A breaking or bursting forth; a violent rush or
        flood of waters which breaks down opposing barriers, and
        hurls forward and disperses blocks of stone and other


        d['e]bris.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A sudden breaking up or breaking loose; a violent
        dispersion or disruption; impetuous rush; outburst.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     3. a complete and ludicrous failure; a rout, as of an army; a
        great disaster; a {fiasco}.
        [PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  debacle
       n 1: a sudden and violent collapse [syn: {fiasco}]
       2: flooding caused by a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river
          during the spring or summer
       3: a sound defeat [syn: {thrashing}, {walloping}, {drubbing}, {slaughter},
           {trouncing}, {whipping}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  106 Moby Thesaurus words for "debacle":
     Waterloo, beating, bloodless revolution, bouleversement, breakdown,
     breaking up, breakup, cascade, cataclysm, cataract, catastrophe,
     cave, cave-in, chute, clean slate, clean sweep, collapse, comedown,
     computer revolution, conquering, conquest, convulsion,
     counterrevolution, crack-up, crash, deathblow, declension,
     declination, defeasance, defeat, defluxion, descending, descension,
     descent, destruction, disaster, down, downbend, downcome,
     downcurve, downfall, downflow, downgrade, downpour, downrush,
     downtrend, downturn, downward trend, drop, dropping, drubbing,
     failure, fall, falling, gravitation, hiding, inclination,
     lambasting, lathering, licking, mastery, overcoming, overthrow,
     overturn, palace revolution, plummeting, pounce, quietus,
     radical change, rapids, revolt, revolution, revolutionary war,
     revulsion, rout, ruin, shellacking, shipwreck, smash, smashup,
     spasm, stoop, striking alteration, subdual, subduing, subjugation,
     subversion, sweeping change, swoop, tabula rasa,
     technological revolution, thrashing, total change, total loss,
     transilience, trimming, trouncing, undoing, upset, vanquishment,
     violent change, washout, waterfall, whipping, wrack, wreck