boiling frog
- noun
- /ˈbɔɪlɪŋ frɔg/
- Informal
:
rana hervida
- The climate crisis is often compared to a boiling frog, as changes occur too slowly for people to notice their severity.
Examples
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Many employees acted like a boiling frog, adapting to increasing workloads without realizing the impact on their well-being.
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The company's steady decline was a classic boiling frog situation that went unaddressed until it was too late.
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Don't be a boiling frog!
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The company is becoming a boiling frog by ignoring small issues.
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Many employees acted like a boiling frog, adapting to increasing workloads without realizing the impact on their well-being.
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The climate crisis is often compared to a boiling frog, as changes occur too slowly for people to notice their severity.
-
The company's steady decline was a classic boiling frog situation that went unaddressed until it was too late.
Synonyms
A person who slowly fails to notice danger until it is too late
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
boiling + frog
Although the constituents 'boiling' and 'frog' yield a clear literal image, the metaphorical meaning (failing to notice gradual harmful change) depends on a specific cultural anecdote; a B1 learner who knows the words would likely interpret it literally and not predict the idiomatic sense without prior exposure. The figurative sense is not compositionally derivable from standard English formation patterns and therefore is not transparent.
Etymology
Boiling frog comes from a popular story: if you put a frog in cool water and heat it slowly, the frog does not notice the danger and is boiled instead. That's why the phrase describes people or groups who 'do not react' to small harmful changes until it is 'too late'.