Word.ws English Dictionary

can of worms

can of worms noun: a complex, troublesome situation, which produces (or whose resolution will produce) many problems.

Noun

can of worms (plural cans of worms)

  1. (idiomatic) A complex, troublesome situation, which produces (or whose resolution will produce) many problems.
    • If someone gets a promotion that might not be deserved, it could open up a whole can of worms with the other employees.
    • Questioning the decision would definitely open a can of worms.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can, worm.

Synonyms of can of worms

Forms of can of worms

pluralcans of worms

Questions about can of worms

What does can of worms mean?
Can of worms means a complex, troublesome situation, which produces (or whose resolution will produce) many problems.
What part of speech is can of worms?
Can of worms is a noun.
What is the plural of can of worms?
The plural of can of worms is cans of worms.

Words near can of worms in the dictionary

  1. can kickers
  2. can light
  3. can man
  4. can not
  5. can of corn
  6. can of worms
  7. can opener
  8. can openers
  9. Can Tho
  10. can too
  11. can wait

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: can of worms (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-can of worms.wav, en-au-can of worms.ogg.

Cite this entry: “can of worms.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/can_of_worms. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.