fiasco
UK /fiˈæs.kəʊ/ · US /fiˈæs.koʊ/ noun
Forms fiascos fiascoes fiaschi fiasci
- noun A sudden or unexpected failure. “The event turned into a complete fiasco when the power went out.”
- noun A ludicrous or humiliating situation. Some effort that went quite wrong.
- noun A wine bottle in a (usually straw) jacket.
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A complete or ridiculous failure, esp. of a musical performance, or of any pretentious undertaking.
Etymology [It.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fiasco”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details