How to pronounce pan

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What pan means

verb

Most people know pan in its everyday sense. Here's its other meaning.

To criticize something harshly, like a movie

In a sentence: Every newspaper critic panned the new play, calling it dull and far too long.

Where it comes from: It is the same word as the cooking pan, which goes back to Old English; further back its origin is uncertain. No one is sure exactly how the harsh-review meaning grew from it.

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