fritter
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
fritters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
frittered,
past participle, past
-
frittering
present participle
-
to squander or disperse piecemeal; waste little by little (usually followed byaway ).
to fritter away one's money; to fritter away an afternoon.
- Synonyms:
- dissipate
-
to break or tear into small pieces or shreds.
verb (used without object)
-
fritters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
frittered,
past participle, past
-
frittering
present participle
-
to dwindle, shrink, degenerate, etc. (often followed byaway ).
to watch one's fortune fritter away.
-
to separate or break into fragments.
a plastic material having a tendency to fritter.
noun
noun
verb
-
(usually foll by away) to waste or squander
to fritter away time
-
to break or tear into small pieces; shred
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
frittersimple
-
fritterssimple
-
have fritteredperfect
-
has fritteredperfect
-
am fritteringprogressive
-
are fritteringprogressive
-
is fritteringprogressive
-
have been fritteringperfect progressive
-
has been fritteringperfect progressive
Past
-
fritteredsimple
-
had fritteredperfect
-
was fritteringprogressive
-
were fritteringprogressive
-
had been fritteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fritter1
1720–30; earlier fitter, derivative of fit ( Old English fitt ) a part
Origin of fritter2
1350–1400; Middle English friture, frytour < Old French friture < Late Latin frīctūra a frying, equivalent to Latin frict ( us ), past participle of frīgere to fry 1 + -ūra -ure
Explanation
A person who fritters chooses to spend their energy on things that are wasteful. You can fritter money, time, or energy, but once you've "frittered it away," you can't get it back! The first time you get a paycheck, you might be tempted to go on a spending spree, buying fireworks, a rabbit costume, and a giant gumball machine. But be careful, because if you fritter away your hard-earned cash like that, you won’t have any left for important things, like food and rent. The Old English root of the word means “break into fragments,” which is what happens to someone who fritters their life away.
Vocabulary lists containing fritter
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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:
The steam emanating from a fried zucchini fritter was…unnatural.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
For now, however, many young workers should still be able to find positions so they can afford to fritter away their youth, as is tradition.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
Restaurant-delivery apps have become “an easy, and lazy, way to fritter your money away instead of investing,” Valega said.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 6, 2026
He called the party a “mess” and wondered how its leaders might fritter away the momentum.
From Salon ● Nov. 6, 2025
They had brought over the fritter and drink stands from the Street of the Turks and the people were in good spirits as they bore the tedium of waiting and the scorching sun.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Go for the carimañolas, crisp yuca fritters stuffed with meat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
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
Faced with a chilly house, some users might then dial up the power on their heat pump - but if you do that, much of the efficiency advantage fritters away, he says.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
It’s well outside the downtown core but near some strip mall finds, including fritters, bars and savory kolaches from the Gomez family at Lone Star Donuts, and creative pies at Nantucket Island-founded Oath Pizza.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2024
Her mouth was bright and shiny, like she’d rubbed on Vaseline, so I knew she’d been dipping into the fritters, too.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
Some lines may be familiar: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”; “Our life is frittered away by detail ... simplify, simplify!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026
If this adds a hint of mitigation for England's failure to secure a second successive 3-0 clean sweep, there are few excuses for the way the hosts frittered away this Test.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2024
Giddy with the view across central Oregon and suddenly reconnected to cell service, I frittered away my smartphone battery during a solo climb on Mount Jefferson in October 2019.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 30, 2023
With shouts of “Go, Coco!” and “Allez, Coco!” emanating from the Court Philippe Chatrier stands, Gauff frittered away two break points as Swiatek served at 1-all.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 7, 2023
I’d frittered away the better part of a week and now that dream of a mountain had just crumbled to dust.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Fisher and Day can’t even secure jobs, stuck literally and metaphorically frittering away their youth in the back seat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
The meek Eagles sputtered and stalled, brainlessly frittering a time out that might have extended the game.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
This is only frittering if it becomes excessive.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2023
Hilda Burke, psychotherapist and author of The Phone Addiction Workbook, says there's now more widespread awareness about how much time people are "frittering" away on social media platforms.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2022
From afar, the many green, black, and blue plastic tents jut into the sky like thousands of anthills with blackhaired people frittering in every direction.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
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.
