A pan can be a cooking utensil, a negative opinion, or a sweeping camera shot. You cook eggs in a pan, but as a film critic you might pan a new docudrama for poor editing and overuse of pan shots.
A pan is a shallow metal object that you use to cook food. It can also be a verb indicating you're expressing a negative view. To pan a performance, book, or movie is to say that you think it stunk. If all the critics pan something, sales usually go down, but not always. To pan a film or video camera is to move it from left to right or right to left in a smooth motion.
any object that can be used to hold things (especially a large metal boxlike object of standardized dimensions that can be loaded from one form of transport to another)
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
Pronunciation
US
/pæn/
UK
/pæn/
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘pan'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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