fiasco

noun FYAHS-koh Rare

Origin: From Italian fiasco (bottle; failure), via the theatrical phrase far fiasco.

Also means

flop

Usage Note

Fiasco is a direct borrowing from Italian and is used identically to its English equivalent—a spectacular and embarrassing failure. It is invariably masculine. The plural is regular: fiascos. In informal speech fracaso is the native Spanish synonym, while fiasco carries a slightly more dramatic or ironic tone.

Examples

"La reunión fue un fiasco total."

Natural Translation

The meeting was a total fiasco.

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