Word of the Day

: May 28, 2025

fiasco

noun fee-ASK-oh

What It Means

A fiasco is a complete failure or disaster.

// The entire fiasco could have been avoided if they'd simply followed the instructions.

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fiasco in Context

"Fyre's first iteration, in 2017, was widely seen as a massive failure. The luxe accommodations promised on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma turned out to be tents and instead of the promised gourmet fare, guests were served cold cheese sandwiches. After musical acts bailed at the last minute, attendees were left stranded as organizers canceled the festival entirely. The fiasco resulted in at least two documentaries." — Theresa Braine, The Sentinel & Enterprise (Fitchburg, Massachusetts), 24 Feb. 2025

Did You Know?

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.