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Synonyms

pan out

British  

verb

  1. informal (intr, adverb) to work out; turn out; result

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
pan out Idioms  

  1. Turn out well, succeed, as in If I don't pan out as a musician, I can always go back to school. This expression alludes to washing gold from gravel in a pan. [Mid-1800s]

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.

See Examples For:

Even “obvious” expectations for interest rates might not pan out.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026

Our senses are dulled by an excessive number of “crisis” claims that don’t pan out.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026

Projections for the Paris Olympics didn’t pan out.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

But television history is littered with fine ideas that don’t pan out in practice.

From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026

“Well, Junior Watkins’s Wonderful didn’t pan out, did it?”

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

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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.

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