kerflooey
An American slang term meaning something has broken down, stopped working, or gone completely wrong — essentially synonymous with 'kaput' or 'on the fritz.' Typically used in a lighthearted, exasperated way when a device, plan, or system suddenly fails.
Definitions
An American slang term meaning something has broken down, stopped working, or gone completely wrong — essentially synonymous with 'kaput' or 'on the fritz.' Typically used in a lighthearted, exasperated way when a device, plan, or system suddenly fails. The word has an onomatopoeic, comic quality that softens frustration. It's been in informal American speech since at least the early 20th century and still pops up in casual conversation.
We were halfway to the airport when the GPS went kerflooey and sent us in the opposite direction.
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(US, slang) kaput.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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Semantically related
- go kaflooey68%
(slang) To turn out wrong; to cease to function or exist.
- flopperoo65%
A playfully emphatic word for a complete and total failure — the '-eroo' suffix kicks the disappointment up a notch, making the flop sound almost comically spectacular. Think a movie that bombs spectacularly at the box office, a business idea that crashes on launch day, or a first date that goes catastrophically wrong. The word has a vintage showbiz ring to it, suggesting the kind of theatrical disaster that becomes a legendary anecdote rather than just a quiet letdown.
- flopperoo62%
(slang) A flop; an utter failure.
- fuckuppery61%
An expressive vulgar noun covering the full spectrum of screw-ups, disasters, and self-inflicted chaos. 'Fuckuppery' isn't just a single mistake — it's a pattern, a culture, a systemic tendency toward catastrophic incompetence. You can have isolated fuckups, but fuckuppery implies the kind of ongoing, institutionalized bungling that suggests nobody is ever going to get their act together. It's deployed with equal parts rage and exhausted resignation, usually when surveying wreckage of someone else's making.