pressure cooker
Americannoun
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a reinforced pot, usually of steel or aluminum, in which soups, meats, vegetables, etc., may be cooked quickly in heat above boiling point by steam maintained under pressure.
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any situation, job, assignment, etc., in which a person is faced with urgent responsibilities or demands by other people, constant deadlines, or a hectic work schedule.
noun
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a strong hermetically sealed pot in which food may be cooked quickly under pressure at a temperature above the normal boiling point of water
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informal a trainee student attending a shortened qualifying course
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pressure cooker
First recorded in 1910–15
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.
Halliday says McInnes "knows the pressure cooker he's stepping into".
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
"It becomes a kind of pressure cooker," she explains.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
Tax preparation is a seasonal business — and a hectic pressure cooker.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 13, 2026
Said LaPoma, “We knew it was important then, but it didn’t seem to be the wild pressure cooker situation it is now.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
Dimple groaned and clutched her head, feeling like that ancient pressure cooker Mamma still used when she made idli cakes.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
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.
