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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
drubbing, fiasco, slaughter, thrashing, trouncing, walloping, whipping
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