See can of worms on Wiktionary
Download JSON data for can of worms meaning in All languages combined (5.1kB)
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "cans of worms",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "cans of worms"
},
"expansion": "can of worms (plural cans of worms)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "If someone gets a promotion that might not be deserved, it could open up a whole can of worms with the other employees."
}
],
"glosses": [
"A complex, troublesome situation arising when a decision or action produces considerable subsequent problems."
],
"id": "en-can_of_worms-en-noun-qN02u4ak",
"links": [
[
"complex",
"complex"
],
[
"troublesome",
"troublesome"
],
[
"situation",
"situation"
],
[
"decision",
"decision"
],
[
"action",
"action"
],
[
"subsequent",
"subsequent"
],
[
"problem",
"problem"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A complex, troublesome situation arising when a decision or action produces considerable subsequent problems."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Questioning the decision would definitely open a can of worms."
}
],
"glosses": [
"A troublesome situation; an issue whose resolution is difficult or contentious but not necessarily complex."
],
"id": "en-can_of_worms-en-noun-adoaNlB7",
"links": [
[
"troublesome",
"troublesome"
],
[
"situation",
"situation"
],
[
"issue",
"issue"
],
[
"resolution",
"resolution"
],
[
"difficult",
"difficult"
],
[
"contentious",
"contentious"
],
[
"complex",
"complex"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A troublesome situation; an issue whose resolution is difficult or contentious but not necessarily complex."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "19 22 56 2",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any difficult or disgusting task, activity, topic of discussion or subject matter, which would be ideally avoided if at all possible."
],
"id": "en-can_of_worms-en-noun-nSmfuvXZ",
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Any difficult or disgusting task, activity, topic of discussion or subject matter, which would be ideally avoided if at all possible."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can, worm."
],
"id": "en-can_of_worms-en-noun-eQ11aMQw",
"links": [
[
"can",
"can#English"
],
[
"worm",
"worm#English"
]
],
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "9 9 18 63",
"word": "genie is out of the bottle"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "9 10 19 62",
"word": "kettle of fish"
},
{
"_dis1": "9 10 19 62",
"word": "Pandora's box"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-can of worms.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/93/En-au-can_of_worms.ogg/En-au-can_of_worms.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/En-au-can_of_worms.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "棘手的問題"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jíshǒu de wèntí",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "棘手的问题"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "soppa"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "sac de nœuds"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Fass"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Fass ohne Boden"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Wespennest"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "gochagocha-shita jōtai",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "ゴチャゴチャした状態"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "komatta jitai",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "困った事態"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "unuhanga taniwha"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "nv",
"lang": "Navajo",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "tʼóó chąąʼ"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "klubók problém",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "клубо́к пробле́м"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "vesjólenʹkaja istórija",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"ironic"
],
"word": "весёленькая исто́рия"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"roman": "colloquial; usu. preceded by the verb abrir",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "melón"
},
{
"_dis1": "40 48 12 0",
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "tuniad o gynrhon"
}
],
"word": "can of worms"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with audio links"
],
"forms": [
{
"form": "cans of worms",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "cans of worms"
},
"expansion": "can of worms (plural cans of worms)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "genie is out of the bottle"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English idioms"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "If someone gets a promotion that might not be deserved, it could open up a whole can of worms with the other employees."
}
],
"glosses": [
"A complex, troublesome situation arising when a decision or action produces considerable subsequent problems."
],
"links": [
[
"complex",
"complex"
],
[
"troublesome",
"troublesome"
],
[
"situation",
"situation"
],
[
"decision",
"decision"
],
[
"action",
"action"
],
[
"subsequent",
"subsequent"
],
[
"problem",
"problem"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A complex, troublesome situation arising when a decision or action produces considerable subsequent problems."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English idioms"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Questioning the decision would definitely open a can of worms."
}
],
"glosses": [
"A troublesome situation; an issue whose resolution is difficult or contentious but not necessarily complex."
],
"links": [
[
"troublesome",
"troublesome"
],
[
"situation",
"situation"
],
[
"issue",
"issue"
],
[
"resolution",
"resolution"
],
[
"difficult",
"difficult"
],
[
"contentious",
"contentious"
],
[
"complex",
"complex"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) A troublesome situation; an issue whose resolution is difficult or contentious but not necessarily complex."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English idioms"
],
"glosses": [
"Any difficult or disgusting task, activity, topic of discussion or subject matter, which would be ideally avoided if at all possible."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) Any difficult or disgusting task, activity, topic of discussion or subject matter, which would be ideally avoided if at all possible."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
},
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can, worm."
],
"links": [
[
"can",
"can#English"
],
[
"worm",
"worm#English"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "en-au-can of worms.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/93/En-au-can_of_worms.ogg/En-au-can_of_worms.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/En-au-can_of_worms.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "kettle of fish"
},
{
"word": "Pandora's box"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "棘手的問題"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "jíshǒu de wèntí",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "棘手的问题"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "soppa"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "sac de nœuds"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Fass"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Fass ohne Boden"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "Wespennest"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "gochagocha-shita jōtai",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "ゴチャゴチャした状態"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"roman": "komatta jitai",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "困った事態"
},
{
"code": "mi",
"lang": "Maori",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "unuhanga taniwha"
},
{
"code": "nv",
"lang": "Navajo",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "tʼóó chąąʼ"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "klubók problém",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "клубо́к пробле́м"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"roman": "vesjólenʹkaja istórija",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"ironic"
],
"word": "весёленькая исто́рия"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"roman": "colloquial; usu. preceded by the verb abrir",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "melón"
},
{
"code": "cy",
"lang": "Welsh",
"sense": "a complex, troublesome situation",
"word": "tuniad o gynrhon"
}
],
"word": "can of worms"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.