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• fry
  fry

  verb (used with object)

  to cook in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.
• Fry
  Fry

  noun

  Christopher, 1907–2005, English playwright.

fry

¹ American  

[frahy] / fraɪ /

verb (used with object)

• fries,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fried,
  past participle,  past
• frying
  present participle

1. to cook in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.

2. Slang. to execute by electrocution in an electric chair.

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verb (used without object)

• fries,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fried,
  past participle,  past
• frying
  present participle

1. to undergo cooking in fat or oil.

2. Slang. to die by electrocution in an electric chair.

noun

• fries
  plural

1. a dish of something fried.

2. a piece of french-fried potato.

3. a party or gathering at which the chief food is fried, frequently outdoors.

   a fish fry.

fry ² American  

[frahy] / fraɪ /

noun

• fry,
  plural,  plural
• fries
  plural

1. a young fish.

   a salmon fry.

2. a young animal of certain other kinds, as frogs and oysters.

3. a person, especially a young or unimportant one.

   The prime minister had to bank on the cooperation of lesser fry.

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Fry ³ American  

[frahy] / fraɪ /

noun

1. Christopher, 1907–2005, English playwright.

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fry ¹ British  

/ fraɪ /

verb

1. to cook or be cooked in fat, oil, etc, usually over direct heat

2. informal (intr) to be excessively hot

3. slang to kill or be killed by electrocution, esp in the electric chair

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noun

1. a dish of something fried, esp the offal of a specified animal

   pig's fry

2. a social occasion, often outdoors, at which the chief food is fried

3. informal the act of preparing a mixed fried dish or the dish itself

Fry ² British  

/ fraɪ /

noun

1. Christopher . 1907–2005, English dramatist; author of the verse dramas A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946), The Lady's Not For Burning (1948), and Venus Observed (1950)

2. Elizabeth . 1780–1845, English prison reformer and Quaker

3. Roger Eliot . 1866–1934, English art critic and painter who helped to introduce the postimpressionists to Britain. His books include Vision and Design (1920) and Cézanne (1927)

4. Stephen ( John ). born 1957, British writer, actor, and comedian; his novels include The Liar (1991) and The Stars' Tennis Balls (2000)

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fry ³ British  

/ fraɪ /

plural noun

1. the young of various species of fish

2. the young of certain other animals, such as frogs

3. young children See also small fry

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fryable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fries
  plural
• fry
  plural

Participles

• frying
  present
• fried
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fry
  simple
• fries
  simple
• have fried
  perfect
• has fried
  perfect
• am frying
  progressive
• are frying
  progressive
• is frying
  progressive
• have been frying
  perfect progressive
• has been frying
  perfect progressive

Past

• fried
  simple
• had fried
  perfect
• was frying
  progressive
• were frying
  progressive
• had been frying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fry
  simple
• will have fried
  perfect
• will be frying
  progressive
• will have been frying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fry¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; 1925–30 fry ¹ for def. 2; Middle English frien, from Anglo-French, Old French frire, from Latin frīgere “to roast”

Origin of fry²

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English frie, fry “seed, descendant,” perhaps from Old Norse frjō “seed”; cognate with Swedish frö, Gothic fraiw “seed”

Explanation

To fry food is to cook it in very hot oil until it's crispy. For breakfast, you could fry yourself an egg, and maybe fry some bacon to go with it. You can stir fry vegetables and deep fry doughnuts — and you have to be careful on a hot summer day not to (figuratively) fry yourself in the sun. When fry is a noun, it's usually short for "French fry," but it also means youngster, or "small fry." This less common meaning comes from Scottish, possibly from the Old Norse root frjo, "offspring."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fry Fry fries fried frying

Salmon also suffered, partly because drought had affected inland rivers, where Chinook and Coho migrate to spawn, eggs hatch, and salmon fry swim back downstream to the ocean.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

"They like green beans but not by themselves, so we just fry them in a little bit of butter and dip in breadcrumbs. The same with cauliflower and lots of other vegetables," she says.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

The stock market has bigger fish to fry this summer than a bump in oil prices.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026

Whenever Celenza has a leftover vegetable, his go-to is usually a frittata or a stir fry.

From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026

‘Then—us’ll have these nice collards and some hoecake and coffee. And I going to cut me off a few slices of this here white meat and fry it for myself.’

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

"Look, the United States Senate is no place for on-the-job training," Fry said last during a primary debate last week.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

The conventional wisdom is that Darline Graham will likely make the runoff and then the second spot will be a competition between Fry and Norman.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

An audio version read by Sir Stephen Fry is now in the Spotify UK audiobook top 10, while Sir Ian McKellen's narration has entered the equivalent chart in the US.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Times staff writers Hannah Fry and Tony Briscoe contributed to this report.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026

From Town Square to Main Street, from Main Street past the park, past the park toward that steep hill leading to Fry High.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles

Those were the days he loved French fries, chips, hamburgers and anything fried.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026

The factory that AFP visited in Hunan province's Pingjiang turns out nearly 700 tonnes per day of the spongy, red-coloured strips, which look like squashed French fries covered in oil.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

I work from the tail toward the head until my plate holds just a frame, some skin, one or two fries I’m saving for no good reason.

From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026

Along with six all-beef hot dogs and six sauces, the $60 tower comes with waffle fries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

I gave her all my French fries and talked loudly about the two of us going to Boston for a museum trip with her mom.

From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson

“I could eat pasta, I could eat fried foods, I could have gluten,” she said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

Anderson’s Billy steps out of the shadows with a full face of femme fatale makeup and a syrupy Dolly Parton drawl, promptly serving Kris enough fried chicken to feed a bobsled team.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

The strips were then blanched, salted, and fried in soybean oil that had been heated to 180 degrees Celsius.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

Hetty Lui McKinnon’s recipe calls for a head of iceberg lettuce, stir-fried, then topped with crispy garlic and a fried egg and served over a warm bowl of rice.

From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026

We built up the fire and, naturally starved, thought we’d try one piece each of Tansy’s fried chicken.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

Their findings suggest that combining microwave frying with conventional frying could shorten cooking time, limit oil uptake, and still create the crisp exterior and satisfying texture associated with traditional fries.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

The miracle everyone pulls off is making a poisonous relationship dryly hilarious, even if every civilized exchange eventually becomes a figurative frying pan flying through the air.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

Otherwise you’re just railing in impotent fury at the companies frying the planet.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

The jury was told that the 17-year-old boy was further back, holding a frying pan.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

I’m smacked with the smell of frying onions and adrak lehsan.

From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed

Related Words

• sauté