débâcle
Meanings
Noun
1. debacle (break-up of ice dam) (geology)
2. debacle (fiasco) (figurative, figuratively)
3. the French defeat in the Battle of France (May–June 1940) (historical, with definite article)
Examples1
Si j'étais au fait de ses intentions, j'aurais peut-être évité cette débâcle.
Had I but known what she intended, I might have forestalled this debacle.