frying pan
Americannoun
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a shallow, long-handled pan in which food is fried.
idioms
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out of the frying pan into the fire, free of one predicament but immediately in a worse one.
noun
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a long-handled shallow pan used for frying
-
from a bad situation to a worse one
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.
Yet the country may be launching out of the frying pan and into the fire.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026
It quoted a Malian official as saying that Wagner operatives were "worse than the French. They think my men are more stupid than them. We have gone from the frying pan to the fire."
From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025
When you need a frying pan to cook fluffy omelets, a skillet to brown mushrooms, or a sheet pan for baking an afternoon treat of chocolate chip cookies, it’s tempting to reach for something nonstick.
From Salon • Dec. 9, 2024
Now imagine instead of a frying pan, it was the floor beneath you.
From Slate • Aug. 27, 2024
Daoud gazed at the huge crowd and tightened his hand on the frying pan.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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.