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

Do they never have to go to the supermarket, the hardware store or fritter away the rest of the afternoon on a text thread?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 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

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

“You don’t mess around like that. You just don’t fritter away all your luck.”

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien