panade
dire straits, mess
noun pah-NAHD Rare
Origin: Old French pain (bread) + -ade; originally a soup of stale bread
Also means
bread soup (archaic)
Usage Note
Panade has largely shed its culinary origin and now functions as informal slang meaning a bad situation or financial trouble — close to 'being in a pickle'. The expression être dans la panade ('to be in a mess') is the most common use a learner will encounter. The literal bread-soup sense still appears in old recipes.
Examples
"Depuis son licenciement, il est dans la panade."
Natural Translation
Since his redundancy, he's in dire straits.
Related Words
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