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fiasco

failure

noun FYAH-skoh Rare

Origin: From Italian fiasco (flask/bottle); origins of the theatrical sense are disputed.

Also means

fiasco

Usage Note

Fiasco in Italian means both a glass flask (the straw-wrapped Chianti bottle) and a spectacular failure — the same dual meaning it carries as an English loanword. The plural is i fiaschi. The phrase fare fiasco (to make a fiasco) means to fail badly. The word is one of the few Italian exports to have kept its exact form in English.

Examples

"Lo spettacolo è stato un vero fiasco."

Natural Translation

The show was a real failure.

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