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Synonyms

fried

1 American  
[frahyd] / fraɪd /

adjective

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

  2. Slang.

    1. drunk; inebriated.

    2. intoxicated from drugs; high.

    3. exhausted or incapacitated through intemperance; burned-out.

verb

  1. simple past tense and past participle of fry.

Fried 2 American  
[freed, freet] / frid, frit /

noun

  1. Alfred Hermann 1864–1921, Austrian writer and journalist: Nobel Peace Prize 1911.

fried British  
/ fraɪd /

verb

  1. the past tense and past participle of fry 1

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • refried adjective
  • unfried adjective

Etymology

Origin of fried

First recorded in 1350–1400, for the adjective

Explanation

Things that are fried are cooked in very hot fat or oil. You can order fried rice at a Chinese restaurant, or fried clams at your favorite seafood place. Some foods are lightly stir fried, while others are submerged in boiling oil and deep fried. At a state fair, there are offerings including fried dough and fried chicken, and it's even possible to eat fried candy bars or fried ice cream. Colloquially, someone who's exhausted might say, "I'm totally fried." Fried comes from the verb fry, which has the Latin root frigere, both "to fry" and "to roast."

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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.

Our tablemates had purchased a litany of fried options, including scotch eggs from the Quail Inn, which also serves bacon-wrapped jalapeño peppers, cheese fritters and “whole, partially deboned quail.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

"The weather is not good," Aminat Jimoh told AFP as he fried tofu by a cluttered roadside.

From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026

Tinsley-Rodriguez stopped to grab 20 fried fish strips for herself and her co-workers at the hair salon where she works.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

They aren’t just stale; to use Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy’s excellent new phrase, they’re as “dead as fried chicken.”

From MarketWatch • Mar. 11, 2026

Is this what two-year-olds feel like when parents watch every little thing they do like it’s the best thing since fried rice?

From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper

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.