train wreck

noun

Updated on: 12 Apr 2018

Definition of train wreck

1 : a violent and destructive crash involving a train

2 : an utter disaster or mess : a disastrous calamity or source of trouble

Six months later, with Washington facing a political train wreck in Iraq, whom did it call? The United Nations.
—Fareed Zakaria

The train wreck that was Florence Ballard could not be hidden anymore. … Those shows went on without a hitch, but with Ballard progressively drinking harder, disaster awaited them as they trekked from Miami to play several college dates across the South.
—Mark Ballard

… to create what is termed on Capitol Hill a train wreck—a budget crisis so awful that the President would have to seriously negotiate, and yield on taxes.
—Elizabeth Drew

Recent Examples of train wreck from the Web

Isikoff and Corn play it mostly straight, recounting how that train wreck of an afternoon played out at Clinton campaign headquarters and at Trump Tower.

— latimes.com, "How the Russia story began: 'Russian Roulette'," 6 Apr. 2018
Woods’ life became a train wreck, his body betrayed him and his golf game unraveled all at once, in very public and very painful fashion.

— gary d'amato, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "D'Amato: Tiger Woods back on the prowl at the Masters," 3 Apr. 2018
Kansas has long been considered an example of what happens when Republicans have complete, unchallenged control of a state government, and the results have been a total train wreck.

— luke darby, GQ, "Kansas GOP Wants You to Sue Schools If They Don’t Give Teachers Guns," 28 Mar. 2018
People who knew me from my maverick days in the Legislature and a decade earlier figured there would be quite a train wreck with a political odd couple like Andrus and Otter in the Statehouse.

— cynthia sewell and rocky barker, idahostatesman, "Risch holds up spending bill, angry over naming of wilderness after former rival Andrus | Idaho Statesman," 22 Mar. 2018
This train wreck substitutes incoherence for cosmic mystery.

— annalee newitz, Ars Technica, "Annihilation is a gorgeous movie that went terribly wrong," 24 Feb. 2018
These recent accidents are part of a longer string of serious passenger train wrecks, the most dramatic of which was the 2015 derailment of a commuter train in Philadelphia, which killed eight.

— david z. morris, Fortune, "Why Didn't a Planned Safety System Stop Sunday’s Amtrak Crash?," 4 Feb. 2018
The vote seemed to indicate a desire for a new direction for a board that had largely operated off center stage--in stark contrast to, say, the prime-time train wreck that is Birmingham Water Works Board.

— roy s. johnson, AL.com, "Transit Board chair quits, director charges Birmingham with 'political' appointments," 1 Feb. 2018
Louis Rams and presided over a train wreck of a 2-14 season, in which three quarterbacks started at least three games.

— marc narducci, Philly.com, "Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels looking for grand finale against the Eagles," 31 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'train wreck.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.