fiasco

1 of 2

noun (1)

fi·​as·​co fē-ˈa-(ˌ)skō 

also

-ˈä- 

plural fiascoes

: a complete failure

The critic called the film a fiasco.

… the total fiasco that was his personal life …

—Margaret Atwood

fiasco

2 of 2

noun (2)

fi·​as·​co fē-ˈä-(ˌ)skō  -ˈa- 

plural fiascoes also fiaschi fē-ˈä-(ˌ)skē 

-ˈa-

: bottle, flask

especially : a bulbous long-necked straw-covered bottle for wine

Synonyms

Noun (1)

• bomb
• bummer
• bust
• catastrophe
• clinker
• clunker
• debacle
• débâcle
• disaster
• dud
• failure
• fizzle
• flop
• frost
• lemon
• loser
• miss
• shipwreck
• turkey
• washout

Examples of fiasco in a Sentence

Noun (1)

undaunted by his early fiascoes, he continued his experiments in rocketry

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Their first evening there is a bit of a fiasco: They get swept into the orbit of a hedonistic couple (played by Roberto Aguire and Marianna Burelli), who turn out to be married to different people, and are rather aggressively predatory swinger types besides. —Dennis Harvey, Variety, 14 Feb. 2025

Amazon has rapidly built up its own logistics empire since a 2013 holiday fiasco left its packages stranded in the hands of outside carriers. —Annie Palmer, CNBC, 30 Jan. 2025

Scheffler, meanwhile, seemed a little embarrassed by the whole fiasco and clearly wants to put that all in the past. —Ben Church, CNN, 2 Mar. 2025

Moore’s empowering, committed performance earned praise from critics, a nice turnaround after the previous year’s Striptease fiasco. —Katie Rife, EW.com, 2 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

French, from Italian, from fare fiasco, literally, to make a bottle

Noun (2)

Italian, from Late Latin flasco bottle — more at flask

First Known Use

Noun (1)

circa 1854, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1887, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fiasco

• casco

Kids Definition

fiasco

noun

fi·​as·​co

fē-ˈas-kō

plural fiascoes

: a complete failure