dumpster fire

noun

variants or less commonly Dumpster fire

US, informal

: an utterly calamitous or mismanaged situation or occurrence : disaster

Reese and McAdoo take the fall for what has been a dumpster fire of a season, one which has them at 2-10 on the season, and in line for one of the top two picks in the 2018 NFL Draft.

—James Kratch

So while 2017 has been, by many measures, a complete dumpster fire of a year, New Yorkers can at the very least take refuge in the fact that their city is becoming an even safer place to live.

—Clayton Guse

Examples of dumpster fire in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The bottom of the order has been a dumpster fire lately. —Mike Lupica, New York Daily News, 28 June 2025

Yet organizations often launch massive projects to fix just one aspect, while ignoring another that is a dumpster fire. —James Blake, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025

Police said officers were peppered with fireworks, rocks and pieces of cement, while firefighters extinguished a dumpster fire. —Rudy Chinchilla, NBC news, 12 June 2025

And then, last Saturday night, outfielder Jarred Kelenic decided to throw some additional fuel on the dumpster fire. —Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 26 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2006, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for dumpster fire

• acquire
• attire
• bonfire
• campfire
• ceasefire
• conspire
• desire
• enquire
• entire
• greenbrier
• gunfire
• homebuyer