debacle

名词，主要指以突然、狼狈且灾难性的方式收场的失败或惨败；也可指冰坝等天然堰塞体溃决后形成的洪水奔涌。

💡 记忆钩子

把它想成一道挡水的坝突然被冲开：水势失控，原本的计划也随之溃败。因此，具体上它可以指天然冰坝溃决引发的洪水，常用的引申义则是某件事彻底失控、以惨败收场。

📝 学习建议

先掌握“惨败、灾难性收场”这一引申义，再把“堰塞体溃决”作为地理学中的专门义记忆。不要把它只理解成一般的小失误或普通失败。

📖 中文释义

noun

core 惨败；灾难性收场

📖 指一项活动、计划或事业突然失控，最后以严重失败甚至令人丢脸的结果收场。它像挡水的坝被冲垮一样，重点不只是没成功，而是局面全面崩盘。

💡 常用“be a debacle”“turn into a debacle”或“a debacle for + 人或团体”来说明某事成了惨败。这个词通常描述一整件事或一次行动，不直接指某个犯错的人；它带有明显的负面评价，正式度高于日常口语中的一般说法。中文使用者容易把它误用来表示普通的“困难”或“混乱”，但它通常要求结果已经严重失败。

figuratively

The product launch turned into a debacle after the website crashed.

网站崩溃后，这次产品发布变成了一场惨败。

The failed rescue operation was a political debacle for the government.

这次失败的救援行动成了政府的一场政治惨败。
rare 天然堰塞体溃决

📖 地理学中指河流冲破冰坝等天然堰塞体后，积水突然奔涌而出的溃决洪水；它保留了“阻挡物被冲开”的本来意象。

💡 通常出现在地理学、地质学或自然科学语境中，常与冰坝、河流、洪水等词连用。日常英语里几乎总是使用它的引申义，而不是这个专门义。

debacles plural

📘 英文释义 (WordNet) 共 3 组

a sudden and violent collapse

同义词集: debacle fiasco

上位: collapse

a sound defeat

同义词集: thrashing walloping debacle drubbing slaughter trouncing whipping

上位: defeat, licking

flooding caused by a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river during the spring or summer

同义词集: debacle

上位: alluvion, deluge, flood, inundation

🌳 词源

源自法语，词源意象与“解除阻挡、冲开闸门”有关，后来发展出“突然溃决”和“局面灾难性崩盘”的含义。

From French débâcle, from débâcler (“to unbar; unleash”) from prefix dé- (“un-”) + bâcler (“to dash, bind, bar, block”) [perhaps from unattested Middle French and Old French *bâcler, *bacler (“to hold in place, prop a door or window open”)], from Vulgar Latin *bacculare, from Latin baculum (“rod, staff used for support”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-. Also attested in Old French desbacler (“to clear a harbour by getting ships unloaded to make room for incoming ships with lading”) and in Occitan baclar (“to close”). The hypothesised derivation from Middle Dutch *bakkelen (“to freeze artificially, lock in place”), a frequentative of bakken (“to stick, stick hard, glue together”) no longer seems likely due to the lack of attestation of *bakkelen in Middle Dutch and by it having the limited meaning of "freeze superficially" in Dutch.

🔄 变式

debacles plural

🏷 单词标签 & 词根