pressure cooker

noun

1

: an airtight utensil for quick cooking or preserving of foods by means of high-temperature steam under pressure

2

: a situation or environment that is fraught with emotional or social pressures

pressure-cook verb

Examples of pressure cooker in a Sentence

The new boss has turned the office into a pressure cooker.

Recent Examples on the Web

Steaming eggs is the best cooking method for easy peeling, but stovetop boiling, pressure cookers, and ovens also work. —Katlyn Moncada, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 June 2026

Vast clouds of soot that form in the pressure cooker of mysterious mini-Neptune exoplanets may hold the truth about these worlds' origins. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 4 June 2026

For a long time, the two of them were just friends who co-parented and occasionally flirted, letting things evolve naturally instead of putting the relationship in a pressure cooker, Charlotte-style, or eschewing all intimacy à la Samantha. —Emma Specter, Vogue, 3 June 2026

This was a team that, after nearly two weeks out of the postseason pressure cooker, had briefly lost its bearings and paid dearly. —Sean Gentille, New York Times, 22 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1915, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for pressure cooker

• booker
• looker
• rooker
• snooker
• onlooker

Kids Definition

pressure cooker

noun

: a utensil for cooking or preserving foods by means of steam under pressure

pressure-cook

ˌpresh-ər-ˈku̇k

verb