fodder
Americannoun
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fodders
plural
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coarse food for livestock, composed of entire plants, including leaves, stalks, and grain, of such forages as corn and sorghum.
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people considered as readily available and of little value.
cannon fodder.
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raw material.
fodder for a comedian's routine.
verb (used with object)
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fodders,
present (3rd person singular)
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foddered,
past participle, past
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foddering
present participle
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
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fodderssimple
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have fodderedperfect
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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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Vocabulary from "Stop Expecting Games to Build Empathy" by Julie Muncy
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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.
See Examples For:
It has crept its way into dinner-table fodder at Ellina, where patrons wolf down $89 steaks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
First developed in the 18th Century as a high-yield fodder crop.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Claiming the movie’s satirical predictions have “come true” has been regular fodder for clickbait articles, egged on by its creator and stars.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
French corn production in particular is seen falling 35 percent this year, while overall fodder growth was a third below normal levels as of August 10, the officials said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
Before the journey ended, Catherine would be able to sleep anywhere, on the ground, in a haystack, under a bush, and this rat-infested fodder house would loom in her memory like a king’s palace.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
The same principle applies in a lesser degree to the use of certain green fodders that are more suitable for feed, such as rape, green rye, or even silage.
From Outlines of dairy bacteriology A concise manual for the use of students in dairying by Edwin George Hastings
There seems to be, however, much difference in the dry fodders from different varieties of sorghum.
From One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered by Edward J. (Edward James) Wickson
After these come grain fodders, corn and sorghum fodders, and fodders from grasses, suitable in the order named.
From Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry by Pratt Food Co.
The weight of lead was estimated at 180 fodders, i.e., about 190 tons.
From Bell's Cathedrals: The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury with some Account of the Priory Church of Deerhurst Gloucestershire by H. J. L. J. (Henri Jean Louis Joseph) Massé
Dode only smiles at his deep cogitations, as he weeds the garden-beds, or fodders the stock.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 60, October, 1862 by Various
I love to start out arter night's begun, An' all the chores about the farm are done, The critters milked an' foddered, gates shet fast, Tools cleaned aginst to-morrer, supper past.
From The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell by James Russell Lowell
The cows came briskly to the rack in which he foddered them in pleasant weather, and when he scratched them between the horns they turned their mild, Juno-like eyes upon him with undisguised affection.
From He Fell in Love with His Wife by Edward Payson Roe
The fruit is also valuable for provender, as animals foddered with it speedily get quite fat, while its wood, growing with great rapidity, is in much request for fuel.
His breeches were open at the knees; his polar legs were without stockings; but his old brogues were foddered, as it is called, with a wisp of straw, to keep his feet warm.
From The Evil Eye; Or, The Black Spector The Works of William Carleton, Volume One by William Carleton
I have not taken yet my first lesson in agriculture, except that I went to see our cows foddered, yesterday afternoon.
From Transcendentalism in New England A History by Octavius Brooks Frothingham
The foddering them from the stack in the field in winter also fell to the lot of the older members of the family.
From My Boyhood by John Burroughs
When convenient, they should have access to water at all times; otherwise a full supply of it should be furnished to them immediately after they have consumed each foddering.
From The American Reformed Cattle Doctor by George Dadd
At this time, although no snow may have fallen, it is best to give the sheep a light, daily foddering of bright hay, and a few oats in the bundle.
From Sheep, Swine, and Poultry Embracing the History and Varieties of Each; The Best Modes of Breeding; Their Feeding and Management; Together with etc. by Robert Jennings
The expense of maintaining and increasing his stock of cars, and of foddering his horses was very great; and he was always on the look-out for more capital.
From Men of Invention and Industry by Samuel Smiles
In time, however, the grazier was compelled to do this, and also to grow alfalfa for winter foddering.
From Commercial Geography A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges by Jacques W. (Jacques Wardlaw) Redway
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.
