debacles

noun

variants also débâcles
plural of debacle
1
as in disasters
a sudden violent event that brings about great loss or destruction the financial debacle that was the stock market crash of 1929

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in failures
something that has failed the movie, which some had predicted would be a blockbuster, turned out to be the summer's biggest debacle at the multiplexes

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of debacles Otherwise, the Democrats’ showing in the campaign has amounted to a pileup of debacles. — Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, 4 June 2026 The one tiny potential upside of the populist movement was its apparent reluctance to plunge the nation into foreign debacles. — Steven Greenhut, Oc Register, 6 Mar. 2026 From shocking district alignments to puzzling travel debacles, many coaches were left shaking their heads in disbelief. — Greg Riddle, Dallas Morning News, 3 Feb. 2026 Several similar debacles have plagued the team over the last six years, but this one may just take the cake. — Gabrielle Starr, Boston Herald, 12 Jan. 2026 Reduced runway capacity and de-icing debacles, with the airport’s supplies of de-icing fluid at one point running low this week, also have contributed to flight backlogs, creating a domino effect across flight networks in Europe and beyond. — Blane Bachelor, AFAR Media, 8 Jan. 2026 After the Utah and Arizona debacles, CU fans have been looking for a reason to stay invested. — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 8 Nov. 2025 Those debacles not only angered voters but showed to the bond markets that Labour would struggle to shore up Britain’s public finances. — Christian Edwards, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2025 Japan is also looking at political uncertainty as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is set to step down, following electoral debacles that saw the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lose its majority in both the lower and upper houses of parliament. — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for debacles
  1. disasters
  2. failures
  3. catastrophes
  4. disappointments
  5. tragedies
  6. apocalypses
  7. calamities
Noun
  • The rescue mission had been suspended earlier due to the fear of secondary disasters caused by the overflowing barrier lake upstream of the town.
    — Sophie Tanno, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Information about major disasters is typically released with a delay and without personal stories of victims.
    — Niranjan Shrestha, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of disasters
Noun
  • Summary The Lindsay Clancy case, involving postpartum psychosis, highlights critical gaps in maternal health support and systemic failures.
    — Forbes.com, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Fifty years on, these songs capture the feelings and failures not of Los Angeles but of America, too.
    — Grayson Haver Currin, Pitchfork, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of failures
Noun
  • That didn’t stop catastrophes like the 2018 fire in the Sierra foothills that destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85.
    — Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Experts warn that catastrophes like this are likely to happen again because rising temperatures in the Himalayas, which are warming faster than the global average, destabilize the region's 60,000 glaciers and trigger more avalanches.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of catastrophes
Noun
  • The team’s offensive overhaul was one of the biggest stories of the offseason, and the lineup proved to be one of the sport’s biggest disappointments of the first half.
    — Grant Brisbee, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
  • This year, the Sky’s biggest investments were also their greatest disappointments.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of disappointments
Noun
  • Those efforts have only intensified following a year in which the NFL community dealt with the tragedies that saw Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland and Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Rondale Moore both take their lives.
    — Mike Jones, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Elordi is terrific as Hig, a man whose personal tragedies and grief do not erase his belief there is still something out there worth saving despite all the evidence that good no longer exists.
    — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of tragedies
Noun
  • Based on Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, the surrealist musical follows one nuclear family across thousands of years and three apocalypses.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025
  • And a lot of the pseudepigrapha, like the fake gospels and fake apocalypses, fill in gaps in the record that can serve latter-day, post-biblical purposes.
    — JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 16 Oct. 2025
Definition of apocalypses
Noun
  • To avert future calamities, the forest outside Bordeaux must be thinned and its fire breaks widened, said Arthur Guérin-Turcq, a Sorbonne University geographer whose family cultivates pines near Le Porge.
    — Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Indeed, conflict and calamities are major factors in financial repression.
    — Jason Ma, Fortune, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of calamities

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debacle
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debar
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Cite this Entry

“Debacles.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/debacles. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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