can of worms

noun phrase

: pandora's box
afraid of what we would find if we opened up the can of worms that is the CIARichard Snider

Examples of can of worms in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The film’s slavish dedication to its source material — the challenging of which would open its own can of worms — demands ignoring all potential complexity in favor of didactic conclusions. Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 19 June 2025 And the response has now opened another can of worms for Pulisic — and for the U.S. team. Paul Tenorio, New York Times, 15 June 2025 The popular payment app enables users to send requests and payments to Venmo accounts listed as public — a default setting that opened up a can of worms for the world's top golfer, Scottie Scheffler. Anne Marie D. Lee, CBS News, 11 June 2025 That may be opening up a can of worms, and not the kind that are good for soil aeration. R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 26 May 2025 Petersen expects more companies to declare force majeure or attempt to get out of existing contracts or relationships, opening a whole new potential legal can of worms. Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 8 Apr. 2025 The investigation was so slow because by going that route prosecutors had to open a whole can of worms. Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025 That’s a can of worms that society has not yet dealt with. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025 Max handles that very well, but the real meat is in the story of a mother and daughter who find that his sudden absence opens up a whole other can of worms. Damon Wise, Deadline, 9 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of can of worms was in 1962

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Cite this Entry

“Can of worms.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/can%20of%20worms. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.

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