boiling frog
A person who, or thing which, is in a gradually worsening situation without any realization of the peril until it is too late.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He is a boiling frog, ignoring the small problems until they become a disaster.”
“By slowly accepting lower standards at work, she became a boiling frog and did not notice the toxic environment until she was completely miserable.”
“The citizens acted as a boiling frog, gradually surrendering their basic freedoms to the authoritarian regime until the loss of liberty became impossible to reverse.”
The term is derived from a widespread misconception regarding the physiological response of a frog to rising temperatures. The narrative maintains that a frog placed in boiling water will immediately jump out, whereas a frog placed in water that is heated slowly will fail to perceive the mounting danger and will be cooked to death.
The premise is an illustrative anecdote rather than a biological reality. While the story suggests a fatal lack of awareness, the physical frog is typically more perceptive than the fable implies, though the idiom remains a standard reference for the inability to recognise a gradual decline into disaster.
- 01
boiling hot
Extremely hot (having a high temperature: of an object, the weather, a living creature).
- 02
boiling mad
extremely angry; furious.
- 03
boiling point
The state of being heated, with high aggression.
- 04
frog in one's throat
Hoarseness or the need to cough.
- 05
keep the pot boiling
To maintain one's livelihood; to continue to procure the necessities of living.
Last updated August 10, 2026