Margaret Atwood
-ˈa-
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.
Examples of fiasco in a Sentence
U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 July 2025
The fiasco was immediate and public, but, even after the rout, Kennedy kept pressing the agency to assassinate Castro.
—Keith Gessen, New Yorker, 16 July 2025
The fiasco inspired dueling streaming documentaries and a host of criminal cases.
—David Matthews, New York Daily News, 15 July 2025
Easy solution, no? Today starts Week 3 of the crossword puzzle fiasco!
—Ticked Off, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for fiasco
Cite this Entry
“Fiasco.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiasco. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share