Dumpster fire describes a situation which has been terribly mishandled, resulting in a disastrously chaotic outcome. Dumpster fire describes a situation that is already a mess, then is made worse by being set afire, figuratively. The origin of the term dumpster fire is uncertain. Many believe that it was first used on American sports talk radio around 2009, though a 2003 movie review in The Arizona Republic uses the term to mean something “stinky but insignificant”. The term dumpster fire has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Dumpster fire is primarily used in American English, as the word dumpster is primarily an American English term. Dumpster fire may also be used in the literal sense to mean a fire in a trash dumpster.
Examples
This year’s presidential race, which already has been compared to a dumpster fire more times than any other political battle in memory, could break a more serious record in November. (The San Antonio Express-News)
In an email obtained Thursday by The Daily Advertiser, LHSAA Executive Director Eddie Bonine gives a bleak appraisal of the current state of the LHSAA to the NFHS in his report on high school athletics in Louisiana, calling the organization a “proverbial dumpster fire.” (The Advertiser)
Miller: Only way to save the Angels’ dumpster fire of a season is trying to restock the farm system through trades (The Orange County Register)
They described the brash real estate mogul with words like “intolerant,” “greedy,” mean-spirited,” “fascist,” “outrageous,” “a dumpster fire,” “narcissist,” “media whore,” “unstable,” “repulsive” and “bat shit crazy.” (The Huffington Post)
Odom has a football team with question marks but had the added challenges of social unrest on campus within the last year and his AD, Mack Rhoades, departing Missouri for the dumpster fire at Baylor within the last 24 hours. (The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal)
The dumpster fire also appeared to have been set on purpose. (The Oakland Press)