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• fry
  fry

  verb (used with object)

  to cook in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.
• Fry
  Fry

  noun

  Christopher, 1907–2005, English playwright.

fry

¹ American  

[frahy] / fraɪ /

verb (used with object)

• fries,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fried,
  past participle,  past
• frying
  present participle

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

2. Slang. to execute by electrocution in an electric chair.

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verb (used without object)

• fries,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fried,
  past participle,  past
• frying
  present participle

1. to undergo cooking in fat or oil.

2. Slang. to die by electrocution in an electric chair.

noun

• fries
  plural

1. a dish of something fried.

2. a piece of french-fried potato.

3. a party or gathering at which the chief food is fried, frequently outdoors.

   a fish fry.

fry ² American  

[frahy] / fraɪ /

noun

• fry,
  plural,  plural
• fries
  plural

1. a young fish.

   a salmon fry.

2. a young animal of certain other kinds, as frogs and oysters.

3. a person, especially a young or unimportant one.

   The prime minister had to bank on the cooperation of lesser fry.

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Fry ³ American  

[frahy] / fraɪ /

noun

1. Christopher, 1907–2005, English playwright.

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fry ¹ British  

/ fraɪ /

verb

1. to cook or be cooked in fat, oil, etc, usually over direct heat

2. informal (intr) to be excessively hot

3. slang to kill or be killed by electrocution, esp in the electric chair

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noun

1. a dish of something fried, esp the offal of a specified animal

   pig's fry

2. a social occasion, often outdoors, at which the chief food is fried

3. informal the act of preparing a mixed fried dish or the dish itself

Fry ² British  

/ fraɪ /

noun

1. Christopher . 1907–2005, English dramatist; author of the verse dramas A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946), The Lady's Not For Burning (1948), and Venus Observed (1950)

2. Elizabeth . 1780–1845, English prison reformer and Quaker

3. Roger Eliot . 1866–1934, English art critic and painter who helped to introduce the postimpressionists to Britain. His books include Vision and Design (1920) and Cézanne (1927)

4. Stephen ( John ). born 1957, British writer, actor, and comedian; his novels include The Liar (1991) and The Stars' Tennis Balls (2000)

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fry ³ British  

/ fraɪ /

plural noun

1. the young of various species of fish

2. the young of certain other animals, such as frogs

3. young children See also small fry

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fryable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fries
  plural
• fry
  plural

Participles

• frying
  present
• fried
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fry
  simple
• fries
  simple
• have fried
  perfect
• has fried
  perfect
• am frying
  progressive
• are frying
  progressive
• is frying
  progressive
• have been frying
  perfect progressive
• has been frying
  perfect progressive

Past

• fried
  simple
• had fried
  perfect
• was frying
  progressive
• were frying
  progressive
• had been frying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fry
  simple
• will have fried
  perfect
• will be frying
  progressive
• will have been frying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fry¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; 1925–30 fry ¹ for def. 2; Middle English frien, from Anglo-French, Old French frire, from Latin frīgere “to roast”

Origin of fry²

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English frie, fry “seed, descendant,” perhaps from Old Norse frjō “seed”; cognate with Swedish frö, Gothic fraiw “seed”

Explanation

To fry food is to cook it in very hot oil until it's crispy. For breakfast, you could fry yourself an egg, and maybe fry some bacon to go with it. You can stir fry vegetables and deep fry doughnuts — and you have to be careful on a hot summer day not to (figuratively) fry yourself in the sun. When fry is a noun, it's usually short for "French fry," but it also means youngster, or "small fry." This less common meaning comes from Scottish, possibly from the Old Norse root frjo, "offspring."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fry Fry fries fried frying

Smaller improvements — like adjusting the amount of oil used to fry chicken and tweaking other fryer settings — would go a long way across its more than 46,000 restaurants worldwide, executives said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

“We just tell them you can taste the difference,” Boes said while surveying the fry oil in the Indiana Steak ’n Shake.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

"They like green beans but not by themselves, so we just fry them in a little bit of butter and dip in breadcrumbs. The same with cauliflower and lots of other vegetables," she says.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

“You think that Alex Jones gorged himself on Whataburger? You’re saying five triple cheeseburgers and how many fry boxes?”

From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2026

Darla slid a plate of fries drenched in gravy in front of Jonas Apple, watching with satisfaction as he popped a fry into his mouth.

From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby

He's also been joined on the One Show on separate occasions by Ross Kemp, Miranda Hart and James Blunt - and earlier this year, he discussed AI on stage with Hannah Fry.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

Much of that debt was for housing, which historically had been “the way that low- and moderate-income American households built wealth,” said Richard Fry, a senior researcher at Pew Research Center.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

His mentor, the designer Jeremy Fry, initially invested in the business.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Gutshall, who had cast a ballot for Fry during the first round of voting, was still undecided.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

All in all, Wallace made twelve trips down the Eternal Creek before some folks from Fry fished him out.

From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles

Take away the rye and add fries to get Langer’s popular pastrami chili cheese fries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

Buffet lines pair high-cost shrimp with more affordable hush puppies and french fries, or meatloaf with potatoes, gravy and green beans.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

“They’ll have the kind of strange, perfectly repeating patterns in the French fries or the bread often has far too much texture.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

I like to put the fries on the burger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

Dinner is hamburgers, French fries, red and green peppers, and rice with zucchini bits.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

"Conversely, fried fast foods, often high in unhealthy fats, trans fats, and advanced glycation end-products, may contribute to inflammation and vascular damage," they add.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026

Sporting a futuristic leather-textured suit, Lady Gaga can be seen working behind the counter, offering fried chicken to customers and restocking bottled tea in the video clip released on Friday.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

Grüner Veltliner’s relatively high acidity, herbal-fruity profile and signature white pepper notes help it pair with everything from barbecue to mole to sashimi to pad thai to fried chicken.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

Under shaded tents, plates overflow with fried fish and macaroni salad as elders hold court, trading stories about “the old record shop on Avalon” and the Los Angeles they remember “before the riots.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Today, I wasn’t very hungry, but I ordered their delicious miso ramen and fried pork cutlets called tonkatsu.

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

The factory in Thornton-Cleveleys first start operating in the 1950s, when ICI manufactured coating for non-stick frying pans using PFOA.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

If you heat up food—by frying it in a pan, for example—it will usually form some amount of acrylamide without adding any other ingredients at all.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026

It appeared as cooking oil, frying fat, shortening, salad dressing, mayonnaise and an inconspicuous ingredient in packaged foods.

From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026

I usually prepare the batter just before frying because it comes together so easily—you just whisk the flour with lukewarm water and the egg whites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

She shooed them into the kitchen, where Aloe was frying plantains in slanted golden slices.

From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi

Related Words

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