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
David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2026
After years of navigating scenarios in which a Black lead was unfairly demonized, the channel now needs to take the reins of a fiasco in which a Black woman is, indisputably, the victim.
—Shamira Ibrahim, HollywoodReporter, 8 Apr. 2026
And then there was the Byju’s fiasco.
—Nate Freeman, Vanity Fair, 3 Apr. 2026
To hear the critics’ version of events, an unprovoked and unnecessary attack on Iran, launched at Israel’s behest, is already a foreign-policy fiasco that has put the global economy at risk without any clear objective or endgame.
—Bret Stephens, Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for fiasco
Cite this Entry
“Fiasco.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiasco. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.
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