What's the difference between debacle and fiasco?

Debacle


Definition:

  • (n.) A breaking or bursting forth; a violent rush or flood of waters which breaks down opposing barriers, and hurls forward and disperses blocks of stone and other debris.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) These recent Times scoops about Obama's policies do not sink to the level of the Judy Miller debacle.
  • (2) As Les Bleus returned to Paris after crashing out of the tournament in the first round , the French leader also called a crisis meeting of ministers over the debacle in South Africa.
  • (3) "For example, making use of more rigorous testing methodologies pre-launch to improve game quality and prevent SimCity-style launch debacles; engaging with, listening to and rewarding its games' communities more readily; learning from, rather than dismissing, the successful practices of competitors such as Steam, etc."
  • (4) Tesco's ignominious exit from the US will grab all the headlines but the truth is that even without the Fresh & Easy debacle the supermarket would probably still have seen its profits fall for the first time in 20 years.
  • (5) As well as discussing the flotilla debacle, Obama is expected to press for further action to allow imports, exports and people to move more freely to and from Gaza.
  • (6) Ben Olsen brought several young players through at the end of that debacle and it seems to have paid dividends as they are only a point behind Sporting at the top of the East, with a game in hand.
  • (7) The public mood clearly indicates they want the facts of the RHI debacle exposed.
  • (8) What has gotten lost in this whole foot washing debacle and the subsequent debate about tradition and breaking with it, however, is the fact that something lovely might be happening at the church's seat of power.
  • (9) My own area of interest has always been how we got into the debacle, not the debacle itself.
  • (10) Given what is now known about the way the case was made for launching an arguably illegal war – this country's biggest foreign policy debacle since Suez – Heywood's refusal to release the conversations smacks of a shabby cover-up at worst, or foot-dragging in a moderately more charitable interpretation.
  • (11) BBC insiders suggested that in the wake of the Digital Media Initiative debacle – an IT project that wasted nearly £100m of licence-fee money before being scrapped – and to simplify management reporting lines, the technology division could be restructured and more control over digital output handed back to programme-makers.
  • (12) Instead, he found himself embroiled in an embarrassing debacle when a fight broke out during an event with tribal elders between Naseem Sharifi, his head of protocol, and Haji Sayed Jan Khakrezwal, the respected head of the Kandahar provincial council.
  • (13) It was at this point that Lord Puttnam introduced the first of a series of wrecking amendments that led to last Monday's debacle.
  • (14) The summit will conduct a post-mortem on the Greek debacle, which climaxed at the weekend with agreement on the first ever bailout of a euro country, costing €110bn over three years for the eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.
  • (15) The trauma of this national debacle, where everyone fought everyone in a rolling matrix of revenge and arms-fuelled madness, remains strong and places a brake on the tribal reflexes that could react disproportionately to events.
  • (16) His commentary brings to mind GM’s Chevrolet Nova naming debacle in Latin America (where “no va” means “no go”) decades ago.
  • (17) Unfortunately, comfort is the last thing the party needs following the election debacle.
  • (18) (In the end, Serco paid back £68.5m for the tagging debacle, and agreed to forgo any future profits on its prisoner escort contract.
  • (19) In the aftermath of the Savile debacle, the Crown Prosecution Service cannot be risk-averse when it comes to prosecuting high-profile sex crimes, no matter how complex they are ( Tories and CPS at war as Evans cleared of rape , 11 April).
  • (20) She's learned from the Born This Way debacle Lady Gaga's head crudely plonked on the front of a motorbike was not what the world needed, and yet that's exactly what we got with 2011's Born This Way cover – an image so appallingly 80s-hair-metal and wildly out of step with the rest of the campaign's artwork that even her fans assumed it was some elaborate hoax sent to test them.

Fiasco


Definition:

  • (n.) A complete or ridiculous failure, esp. of a musical performance, or of any pretentious undertaking.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He said there were a sufficient number of shifts at Heathrow to maintain "a full immigration desk policy" and insisted the contingency planning for security at the Games, which had seen more than 18,000 military personnel called in, meant the government had enough troops in place or in reserve to make up for the G4S staffing fiasco.
  • (2) Train operators fear the revised rail franchise timetable announced in the wake of the west coast fiasco is already slipping as documents for the first contest appear likely to be delayed until autumn.
  • (3) The BBC Trust The green paper sounds the death knell for the BBC’s current governance system in the form of the BBC Trust, which it says has come under “sustained criticism” as a result of the Savile scandal, the £100m Digital Media Initiative fiasco and excessive payoffs and salaries to BBC executives.
  • (4) It will come under close examination given recent controversies over BBC spending, from the multi-million payoffs given to former executives to the £100m Digital Media Initiative fiasco.
  • (5) The dotcom fiasco, and that is what it looks like, noting as we do many more complaints over praise for the current proposition, leaves a bitter taste for investors to our minds.
  • (6) The carmaker's full-year results highlight how, when the quake struck, Toyota had been on its way to a recovery from the recall fiasco, affecting 14m vehicles worldwide, which had battered its reputation for quality.
  • (7) It only looks like a $100m movie.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest I think Britons of Poulter’s generation – now in their late teens and early 20s, spectators while the economic fiascos of recent years shredded their odds of financial stability in the future – are more inclined to be aware of money, and more inclined to be aware of its reckless use.
  • (8) Then there’s the shift from disability living allowance to the personal independence payment , which last month the public accounts committee savaged as a “fiasco”, leaving many facing six-months delays – and the dying having to wait for weeks for support.
  • (9) On Thursday morning the opposition said it was “clearly a port” and accused Giles of hiding amid the fiasco.
  • (10) Nearly every discussion of the Greek fiasco is based on a morality play.
  • (11) Morrissey also has words for the royal family, saying Prince William and his new "fiasco" fiancee, Kate Middleton, "are so dull as people that it is actually impossible to discuss them".
  • (12) It owed altogether too much to Scott and was a fiasco that stung its author so badly that a story claims he sought out all the copies he could find to have them burnt.
  • (13) No more welfare cuts to come under Theresa May, says minister Read more Claimants might breathe a sigh of relief that no more cuts are expected, but even Osborne had by the end, via the tax credits U-turn and the personal independence payments (PIP) fiasco , crashed into the limits of what was politically possible.
  • (14) Spelman has failed to recover from the fiasco of plans to sell off parts of the national forest.
  • (15) The word "fiasco" spends most of the year slumbering undisturbed, but come the exam results and it's everywhere.
  • (16) The UK Border Agency is to be split in two after an official inquiry report found that poor communication, poor oversight and confusion among ministers and senior officials lay at the heart of last summer's border checks fiasco.
  • (17) Romney said the fallout from the G4S security fiasco and a threatened strike by immigration officials were "disconcerting" and questioned whether British people would get behind the Games.
  • (18) That has officials worried about excessive levels of debt, which could potentially lead to a crisis akin to the US mortgages fiasco that metastasised into the 2008 credit crunch and subsequent global recession.
  • (19) Their concerns over the company's property assets (articulated by Katy Clark MP at several sessions) are a reminder that the verdict on whether the float is a success or a fiasco can't come for years.
  • (20) But the public, and especially the party’s supporters, deserve to know what happened and what has happened behind the scenes in this fiasco within the party of transparency, and I have decided that this is the best course of action.

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