pratfall
PRONUNCIATION:
(PRAT-fawl) 
MEANING:
noun: A humiliating failure, blunder, or defeat.
ETYMOLOGY:
A pratfall is literally a fall on the buttocks. The word is figuratively used to describe embarrassing errors or failures. From prat (buttocks, fool) + fall. Earliest documented use: 1939.
USAGE:
"Some caution that stockpiling is ending and both markets are in for a pratfall."
Ray Turchansky; Asian Consumers Likely Spend Us Out of Our Financial Mess; The Vancouver Sun (Canada); Aug 21, 2009.
Ray Turchansky; Asian Consumers Likely Spend Us Out of Our Financial Mess; The Vancouver Sun (Canada); Aug 21, 2009.
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