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Debacle vs Deluge - What's the difference?

debacle | deluge |

As a verb debacle

is .

As a proper noun deluge is

(bible) the biblical flood during the time of noah.

debacle

English

Alternative forms

* * (rare) * (rare)

Noun

(en noun)
  • An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences.
  • * 1952 , ,
    • The event proved to be a great debacle for the partisans of this prognosticator.
  • * 1996 , Richard L. Canby, "SOF: An Alternative Perspective on Doctrine", in Schultz et al'' (eds), ''Roles And Missions of SOF In The Aftermath Of The Cold War , p. 188,
    • The result is a military approach which maximizes political tensions with Russia and lays the ground for a military debacle .
  • * 2002, Jacqueline West, South America, Central America and the Carribean 2002 , Routledge, ISBN 1-857431-21-9, page 68,
    • The Falklands-Malvinas débâcle provided the opportunity to restructure the military High Command; Alfonsín removed anti-democratic senior officers and replaced them with more co-operative ones.
  • * 2007 , BP pipeline failure: hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources , "Statement by Peter Van Tuyn", p. 46,
    • The BP Prudhoe Bay debacle [the thus provides but the latest in a long line of reasons why leasing this region of the NPR-A is a bad idea.
  • (ecology) A breaking up of a natural dam, usually made of ice, by a river and the ensuing rush of water.
  • * 1836 , , How to Observe: Geology , p. 69
  • * 1837 , John Lee Comstock, Outlines of Geology , p. 51
    • For several months after the debacle just described, the river Dranse, having no settled channel, shifted its position continually
  • * 1872, Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution'', p. 425,
    • When this débâcle commences

    Usage notes

    * Although authorities say that the word is properly spelled with both accents their use tends to be variable, with either or both often dropped, particularly in non-technical writing. Its headword in the online Oxford English Dictionary has none.

    Synonyms

    * (An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously) fiasco

    References

    * 2005, Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, The Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd edition revised) , Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-861057-2 * 1998, The Dorling Kindersley Illustrated Oxford Dictionary'', Dorling Kindersley Limited and Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-7513-1110-3, page 211 * 2006, Ed. Michael Allaby, A Dictionary of Ecology , Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-860905-1 * 1999, Ed. Robert Allen, Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage , Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-860947-7 * 1999, Ed. Jennifer Speake, The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English , Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-425-16995-2

    deluge

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A great flood or rain.
    • The deluge continued for hours, drenching the land and slowing traffic to a halt.
  • An overwhelming amount of something; anything that overwhelms or causes great destruction.
    • The rock concert was a deluge of sound.
  • * Milton
    • A fiery deluge fed / With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
  • * Lowell
    • The little bird sits at his door in the sun, / Atilt like a blossom among the leaves, / And lets his illumined being o'errun / With the deluge of summer it receives.
  • (Military engineering) A damage control system on navy warships which is activated by excessive temperature within the Vertical Launching System.
  • * NAVEDTRA 14324A
    • In the event of a restrained firing or canister overtemperature condition, the deluge system sprays cooling water within the canister until the overtemperature condition no longer exists.

    Verb

  • To flood with water.
  • To overwhelm.
    • After the announcement, they were deluged with requests for more information.

    References

    * 1996, T.F. Hoad, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Etymology , Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192830988

    See also

    * inundate ----