the fat is in the fire
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A situation has been made worse or more complicated
Literally: fat in a fire
Examples
Now that the secret is out, the fat is in the fire
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). 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.
Common questions
What does “the fat is in the fire” mean?
A situation has been made worse or more complicated Literally: fat in a fire
Is “the fat is in the fire” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.