Margaret Atwood
-ˈa-
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English speakers picked up fiasco from the French, who in turn adopted it from the Italian phrase fare fiasco—literally, "to make a bottle." Just what prompted the development of the meaning "failure" from "bottle" has remained obscure. One guess is that when a Venetian glassblower would discover a flaw developing in a beautiful piece they were working on, they would turn it into an ordinary bottle to avoid having to destroy the object. The bottle would naturally represent a failure to the glassblower, whose would-be work of art was downgraded to everyday glassware. This theory, however, remains unsubstantiated.
Examples of fiasco in a Sentence
Jess Collen, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025
But the oil field fiasco underscores the challenges China faces in achieving its goals.
—Anthony Kuhn, NPR, 29 Aug. 2025
Where the carcasses would end up after the rodeo was a subject of some mystery, on account of the Audubon Zoo fiasco of 2021.
—Nathaniel Rich, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
If February was a fiasco, Monday is the do-over — this time with chaperones.
—Freddie Clayton, NBC news, 18 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fiasco
Cite this Entry
“Fiasco.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiasco. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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