frying pan
Americannoun
idioms
noun
-
a long-handled shallow pan used for frying
-
from a bad situation to a worse one
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of frying pan
1350–1400; Middle English fryinge panne
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I know that’s not easy to predict, but it does seem like an “out of the frying pan, into the fire” sort of situation.
From Salon • Jun. 22, 2026
Weather that swings from deep freeze to frying pan.
From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026
Yet the country may be launching out of the frying pan and into the fire.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026
Inside Dorothy’s Kansan house, a once-shadowed frying pan on the wall now dangles front and center, as does a digitally added “Home Sweet Home” needlepoint nailed to the threshold.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 3, 2025
Claudia’s whisper began to sound like cold water hitting a hot frying pan.
From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
