to pan out
48
5.3
- phrasal verb
- /pæn aʊt/
- Informal
:
salir bien
- The worst that can happen is that it doesn't pan out the way you want.
And it doesn't quite pan out like he expects.
- And it doesn't quite pan out like he expects.
- So you're saying that if it's not going to pan out, be yeah, you got it.
- And yeah, some things perhaps didn't pan out how I wanted it to pan out.
- But sometimes some things don't pan out and you just let them go.
- And and that's going to be great if if that pans out, but they need more.
- That's how that thing panned out anyway.
- And all of that panned out to be a very painful life for me.
- That just wasn't what my life panned out to be.
- Maybe they're waiting to see how things pan out in the USA, the Guinea pig of countries.
- We're going to see how this video pans out.
- The tomatoes, as you'll see in a second, just did not pan out.
- So that's how that panned out.
- So good news there for you, but we need to see how that pans out over the next couple months.
- Often what might appear as a most promising approach does not pan out.
- So it's this pay to play system that rarely, rarely ever pans out.
Examples
-
I hope this pans out for you, okay?
-
I guess your theory panned out, huh?
-
It's funny how things pan out.
-
Have faith that an opportunity did not pan out because something better is coming your way.
Blog text (10) -
So good news there for you, but we need to see how that pans out over the next couple months.
-
We need to see how that pans out in practice.
Academic text (2009) -
Let's see how it pans out.
-
But sometimes some things don't pan out and you just let them go.
-
I'm sorry things didn't pan out the way you wanted with your book, but the next great idea will come.
-
Let's wait and see how the plan will pan out before making any decisions.
Synonyms
∞
3.4
To be discovered or to happen in a way you do not expect
911
3.0
To happen in a certain way, often with a good result
1
7.4
Do much better than expected
To end up very successful or perfect
Antonyms
How Successful
- Slang
846
2.0
911
3.0
- Informal
48
5.3
898
1.0
495
2.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
pan + out
The verb 'pan' does not transparently convey the idea of 'turning out' or 'having a good result' for a B1 learner, and 'out' only signals direction/result without supplying the core sense. The idiomatic sense (likely historically linked to panning for gold) is not predictable from the literal meanings of the constituents, so learners who only know the parts would not reliably infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Pan out comes from that gold-panning picture. If a miner's pan held gold, the job 'panned out' — it turned out well, so today pan out means 'to develop or turn out in a particular way', often with a good result.