Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

debacle

/dɪˈbɑ.kəl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.21 in modern English

Syllables: de-ba-cle
IPA: /dɪˈbɑ.kəl/

12

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences.

noun

A breaking up of a natural dam, usually made of ice, by a river and the ensuing rush of water.

Example Sentences

"The event proved to be a great debacle for the partisans of this prognosticator."
"The result is a military approach which maximizes political tensions with Russia […] and lays the ground for a military debacle."
"The BP Prudhoe Bay debacle [the Prudhoe Bay oil spill] thus provides but the latest in a long line of reasons why leasing this region of the NPR-A is a bad idea."
"[…] so that in extreme cases the latter may even be dammed up for a time, and a debacle be the consequence, when the main river overcomes the resistance opposed to it, […]"
"For several months after the debacle just described, the river Dranse, having no settled channel, shifted its position continually […]"
"When this débâcle commences […], the masses of ice, drifting with the current and unable to pass, are hurled upon those already soldered together; thus an enormous barrier is formed […]"

Etymology

From French débâcle, from débâcler (“to unbar; unleash”) from prefix dé- (“un-”) + bâcler (“to dash, bind, bar, block”) [perhaps from unattested Middle French and Old French *bâcler, *bacler (“to hold in place, prop a door or window open”)], from Vulgar Latin *bacculare, from Latin baculum (“rod, staff used for support”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-. Also attested in Old French desbacler (“to clear a harbour by getting ships unloaded to make room for incoming ships with lading”) and in Occitan baclar (“to close”). The hypothesised derivation from Middle Dutch *bakkelen (“to freeze artificially, lock in place”), a frequentative of bakken (“to stick, stick hard, glue together”) no longer seems likely due to the lack of attestation of *bakkelen in Middle Dutch and by it having the limited meaning of "freeze superficially" in Dutch.

Origin

Source language: French

Word Breakdown

Root: débâcle, -, *bacculare, baculum, *bak-

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /dɪˈbɑ.kəl/
British English: /deɪˈbɑː.kəl/

Inflected Forms

debacles (plural) débâcle (alternative) debâcle (alternative) débacle (alternative)

Synonyms

fiasco thrashing walloping drubbing slaughter trouncing whipping

Rhymes With

cockle gonococcal kochel rockel mochel brockle

Questions

How do you pronounce debacle?: The recorded pronunciation is /dɪˈbɑ.kəl/.
What does debacle mean?: An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences.
Where does debacle come from?: It is traced to French.

How to pronounce debacle

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “debacle”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/dɪˈbɑ.kəl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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