fodder
Americannoun
-
coarse food for livestock, composed of entire plants, including leaves, stalks, and grain, of such forages as corn and sorghum.
-
people considered as readily available and of little value.
cannon fodder.
-
raw material.
fodder for a comedian's routine.
verb (used with object)
noun
-
bulk feed for livestock, esp hay, straw, etc
-
raw experience or material
fodder for the imagination
verb
Synonym Usage
See feed.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
foddersimple
-
fodderssimple
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have fodderedperfect
-
has fodderedperfect
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am fodderingprogressive
-
are fodderingprogressive
-
is fodderingprogressive
-
have been fodderingperfect progressive
-
has been fodderingperfect progressive
Past
-
fodderedsimple
-
had fodderedperfect
-
was fodderingprogressive
-
were fodderingprogressive
-
had been fodderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fodder
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English fodder, fōdor; cognate with German Futter; akin to food
Explanation
Fodder is cheap food, usually given to livestock animals like cows. If you gave a cow caviar or homemade scones, that would not be fodder. Try cornstalks. Fodder is not just used to describe cattle feed. We use the word to talk about other kinds of feeding that don't involve actual food. A new celebrity marriage is fodder for gossip magazines. In war, the soldiers most likely to be killed, are called cannon fodder, from the times when armies used canons instead of drone aircraft dropping missiles.
Vocabulary lists containing fodder
Their Eyes Were Watching God
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Ender's Game
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But are they just social media fodder, or actually worth spending time and money on?
From BBC • Jun. 19, 2026
Humanoid robots that can dance in unison, perform backflips or pull heavy objects without falling over are perfect fodder for viral videos.
From Barron's • Jun. 3, 2026
Crowe’s temperament, blunt demeanor and distaste for certain aspects of “celebrity” have long been fodder for news coverage.
From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026
It is fodder for the debate about the economic merits of hosting big sporting events.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 17, 2026
From the dark, heavy look of the sky, visible through the roof of the fodder house, it would be an all-day rain.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
