small fry

[ smawl frahy ]

noun

, plural small fry small fry or small fries

1. a child: He's a small fry with a big personality.

   Here's a treat for the small fry.

   He's a small fry with a big personality.

2. an unimportant person or object:

   Her fancy parties were closed to the small fry.

3. a small or young fish.

small fry

plural noun

1. people or things regarded as unimportant
2. young children
3. young or small fishes

Other Words From

• small-fry adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of small fry¹

First recorded in 1895–1900; fry ²

Example Sentences

Seasoned recordists may balk at its midrange converters or bristle at the notion of sacrificing line outputs for headphones, but engineering is little more than problem-solving and the shortcomings of the 18i20 are small fry.

From Popular-Science

Most of these planets, the magazine noted, were “small fry.”

From Science News For Students

A 1951 article in Science News Letter declared that “thousands of planets are known to circle our sun,” although most are “small fry.”

From Science News

And yes, someone has already called Spencer a “Small Fry,” har har.

From The Daily Beast

Big Perm worries that the lack of policing the “small fry” will lead to more crimes by “big fry.”

From The Daily Beast

One cannot have an ecosystem with only “small fry” facing giants.

From The Daily Beast

In the White House pecking order, Jones was a small fry, who wasn't exactly sitting in on cabinet meetings.

From The Daily Beast

They are the small fry who follow in the wake of the big eaters in the ferocious hunts of the rivers.

From Project Gutenberg

The noise attracts the large fish, who think there is a shoal of the small fry about, and they jump at the bait and are caught.

From Project Gutenberg

Finally, the small fry of the Third Estate will be exiled to at least a hundred leagues from Paris.

From Project Gutenberg

You can imagine the wild joy of the small fry, who had, of course, never met Whistler.

From Project Gutenberg

A great family might have lived down a match of this sort, (I dont want to hurt your feelings,) but were such very small fry.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• baby
• boy
• daughter
• girl
• juvenile
• kid
• minor
• offspring
• son
• youngster
• youth