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Synonyms

frying pan

American  
Also fry-pan,

noun

  1. a shallow, long-handled pan in which food is fried.

idioms

  1. out of the frying pan into the fire, free of one predicament but immediately in a worse one.

frying pan British  

noun

  1. a long-handled shallow pan used for frying

  2. from a bad situation to a worse one

"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

Etymology

Origin of frying pan

1350–1400; Middle English fryinge panne

Compare meaning

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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.

Yet the country may be launching out of the frying pan and into the fire.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026

From frying pan to furnace, Rohl is the new Rangers head coach.

From BBC • Oct. 20, 2025

Now imagine instead of a frying pan, it was the floor beneath you.

From Slate • Aug. 27, 2024

When sunny skies returned, the Olympic skate park — made of concrete and shaped like a bowl — became a giant frying pan.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 1, 2024

Before I could answer, she got out a big black frying pan and poured some bacon grease in it out of a coffee can that was sitting on top the stove.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

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.