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

I clear my schedule and hole up in the library, only to fritter away hours doing everything but writing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

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

From BBC • Oct. 16, 2025

And here’s the thing: It’s easy to fritter away our power, but it would be a decades-long struggle to regain influence once it’s gone.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 3, 2025

Instead, the Mississippi Department of Human Services allowed well-connected people to fritter away $77 million in federal welfare funds from 2016 to 2019, according to the state auditor and state and federal prosecutors.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 4, 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