English · Idiom Candidate

out of the frying pan, into the fire

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

To move from a bad situation to an even worse one

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Chuyển từ tình huống tồi sang tình huống còn tồi tệ hơn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: jumping from a hot pan into flames

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She quit her stressful job, but now she's out of the frying pan, into the fire with her new role

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Equivalents & related

Near equivalent tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa out of the frying pan, into the fire Tiếng Việt Near equivalent one's heart out to sing or perform with great emotion and energy English · via tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa Near equivalent physician, heal thyself Fix your own problems before helping others English · via tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa

Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.

Topics: Fire

Common questions

What does “out of the frying pan, into the fire” mean?

To move from a bad situation to an even worse one Literally: jumping from a hot pan into flames

Is “out of the frying pan, into the fire” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

What is the closest equivalent?

“tránh vỏ dưa gặp vỏ dừa” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.