fritter away

Idioms  

1. Squander or waste little by little; wear down gradually. For example, She frittered away her salary on odds and ends and saved nothing. This expression was first recorded in Alexander Pope's Dunciad (1728): “How prologues into prefaces decay, And these to notes are fritter'd quite away.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fritter away

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

Arsenal had led the Premier League by as many as nine points, only to fritter away its advantage and briefly fall out of first in late April.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026

But in recent years, that shame has started to fritter away - at least in some quarters.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2025

Except that anyone familiar with the history of the Chargers and their ability to fritter away leads had to know it was far from over.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2023

“Frances. Let’s go, buddy. Let’s not fritter away the best part of the day here….Let’s go, buddy.”

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger