Antonyms for fiasco


Grammar : Noun
Spell : fee-as-koh or especially for 2, -ah-skoh
Phonetic Transcription : fiˈæs koʊ or especially for 2, -ˈɑ skoʊ


Definition of fiasco

Origin :
  • 1855, theater slang for "a failure," by 1862 acquired the general sense of any dismal flop, on or off the stage. Via French phrase fiare fiasco "turn out a failure" (19c.), from Italian far fiasco "suffer a complete breakdown in performance," literally "make a bottle," from fiasco "bottle," from Late Latin flasco, flasconem (see flask).
  • The reason for all this is utterly obscure today, but "the usual range of fanciful theories has been advanced" [Ayto]. Weekley finds it utterly mysterious and compares French ramasser un pelle "to come a cropper (in bicycling), literally to pick up a shovel." OED makes nebulous reference to "alleged incidents in Italian theatrical history." Klein suggests Venetian glass-crafters tossing aside imperfect pieces to be made later into common flasks. But according to an Italian dictionary, fare il fiasco used to mean "to play a game so that the one that loses will pay the fiasco," in other words, he will buy the next bottle (of wine). That plausibly connects the word with the notion of "a costly mistake."
  • noun catastrophe
Example sentences :
  • Better get a fiasco of Chianti ready—the old kind you have in the cellar.
  • Extract from : « The Underdog » by F. Hopkinson Smith
  • This fiasco, due, I am told, to the jealous interference of the P.-L.
  • Extract from : « In the Heart of Vosges » by Matilda Betham-Edwards
  • The Marchese lunched here alone with us to-day, and it was a fiasco.
  • Extract from : « A Spirit in Prison » by Robert Hichens
  • Her first real failure, a fiasco—she really deserved a better fate.
  • Extract from : « We're Friends, Now » by Henry Hasse
  • After that fiasco in Ireland you must go somewhere, for a time at least, out of the way.
  • Extract from : « Lord Kilgobbin » by Charles Lever
  • Her great grandmother was a Fiasco, and her great great grandmother a Disgrazia.
  • Extract from : « Kept in the Dark » by Anthony Trollope
  • "Not the slightest fear of a fiasco this time," says Potts, comfortably.
  • Extract from : « Molly Bawn » by Margaret Wolfe Hamilton
  • Leslie decided that they should bear the blame for the fiasco.
  • Extract from : « Marjorie Dean, College Sophomore » by Pauline Lester
  • After that fiasco at the Michaels ranch, he'd had to get a new aide.
  • Extract from : « The Best Made Plans » by Everett B. Cole
  • I have never seen a correct history of this fiasco in print.
  • Extract from : « Old Rail Fence Corners » by Various

Synonyms for fiasco

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019