omnishambles
English
WOTD – 31 May 2012
Etymology
omni- + shambles. Introduced by the television show The Thick of It in 2009.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɒmniˌʃæmbəlz/
Audio (RP) (file)
Noun
omnishambles (plural omnishambles)
- (UK, informal, chiefly politics) A situation that is bad or mismanaged in every way.
- Between the car accident, the food poisoning and the lost keys, the holiday was an omnishambles.
- 2021 October 20, Paul Stephens, “Network News: Electricity prices force Freightliner to revert to diesel”, in RAIL, number 942, page 7:
- Rail unions also rounded on ministers to intervene in the energy "omnishambles", with ASLEF General Secretary Mick Whelan calling on the Government to "do the right thing for people, the right thing for business, and the right thing for our rail network. Because it is also the right thing for our planet."
Quotations
For quotations using this term, see Citations:omnishambles.
Synonyms
- clusterfuck
- debacle
- fiasco
- hot mess
- perfect storm
- shitstorm
References
- George Eaton (18 April 2012), “The origin of ‘omnishambles’”, in New Statesman, archived from the original on 2015-05-31.