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View synonyms for snafu

snafu

[ sna-foo, snaf-oo ]

noun

  1. a badly confused or ridiculously muddled situation:

    A ballot snafu in the election led to a recount.

    Synonyms: foul-up, mess, confusion, disorder, bedlam, snarl, disarray

    Antonyms: order, organization, calm

  2. an error or miscalculation, especially one leading to a confused or muddled situation:

    After some snafu deleted all my data files, I've finally managed to rebuild everything—I think!



adjective

  1. Also sna·fued. in disorder; out of control; chaotic:

    What you’re proposing is a snafu scheme that simply won't work.

verb (used with object)

, sna·fued, sna·fu·ing.
  1. to throw into disorder; muddle:

    Losing his passport snafued the whole vacation.

    Synonyms: bungle, spoil, mess up

snafu

/ snæˈfuː /

noun

  1. confusion or chaos regarded as the normal state


adjective

  1. postpositive confused or muddled up, as usual

verb

  1. tr to throw into chaos

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Word History and Origins

Origin of snafu1

First recorded in 1940–45; s(ituation) n(ormal): a(ll) f(ucked) u(p); sometimes euphemistically construed as f(ouled) u(p)

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Word History and Origins

Origin of snafu1

C20: from s ( ituation ) n ( ormal ): a ( ll ) f ( ucked or ouled ) u ( p )

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Example Sentences

The reasons include confusion about how the complex program works, IRS missteps, technical snafus and Treasury Department policy decisions that cut out large groups of people altogether.

Zuckerberg went AWOL from the opening statements because of a technical snafu that ended up delaying the hearing for a few minutes while the CEO tried to fix the problem.

From Fortune

It’s unclear, though, what caused the Apple live-stream snafu and whether or not it was deliberate.

From Fortune

In summary, it seems like states are getting better at avoiding election snafus — and hopefully this means they will be minimal in November.

That means extra work for Stadia developers who have to port their existing games to Stadia's environment, which can sometimes lead to apparent graphical snafus.

When he was first incarcerated, he says some sort of paperwork snafu had him imprisoned under two different, but similar, names.

It may either be a legal snafu or a general backlash that has led Lulu to make a major change to how the app operates.

He might be interested to know that Apple fired the manager responsible for the last major snafu the company encountered.

SNAFU—“situation normal: all f--ked up,” as soldiers used to say—was the default position for American policy.

The Grammys snafu, however, shows a certain lack of humility.

Everything was in apple-pie order, except for the snafu in Arzachel, Crag thought bitterly.

"We're not giving her a chance to snafu the works," Gotch said grimly.

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