fried
adjective
cooked in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.
fried
1 American
[frahyd]
/ fraɪd /
adjective
-
cooked in a pan or on a griddle over direct heat, usually in fat or oil.
-
Slang.
-
intoxicated from drugs; high.
-
exhausted or incapacitated through intemperance; burned-out.
verb
Fried
2
American
[freed, fr eet]
/ frid, frit /
noun
fried
British
/ fraɪd /
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of fried
First recorded in 1350–1400, for the adjective
Explanation
Things that are fried are cooked in very hot fat or oil. You can order fried rice at a Chinese restaurant, or fried clams at your favorite seafood place. Some foods are lightly stir fried, while others are submerged in boiling oil and deep fried. At a state fair, there are offerings including fried dough and fried chicken, and it's even possible to eat fried candy bars or fried ice cream. Colloquially, someone who's exhausted might say, "I'm totally fried." Fried comes from the verb fry, which has the Latin root frigere, both "to fry" and "to roast."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
They crunch into every flavor of Wingstop and rack up millions of views; they clean Korean fried chicken drums in one fell bite, without leaving a trace of meat on the bone.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
Over plates of fried fish at lunchtime or sitting on the back deck after dark, campers swapped tips on how they’re integrating agentic tools into their own workflows.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Devlin's night ended with a deserved red card for a ridiculous and entirely needless lunge that fried the brain.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Robots sorting parcels and serving fried chicken enthralled visitors at a robotics expo in Beijing on Wednesday, where hundreds of companies set out their pitches for a future labour market transformed by artificial intelligence.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
I dreamed last night that you came here to Chicago, and we rode my mule, Whiskey, past Potter Palmer’s emporium and ate fried bread on Lake Street.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Fried arrived after Montclair Prep canceled its sports program.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
Fried foods featured in my quiz included the fried pork tenderloin sandwich, which was popularized in Indiana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
He also raved about chicken fried steak, posting on X: “Every Scottish person in America needs to immediately try Chicken Fried Steak, and you’ll realise we and the Americans are kindred spirits.”
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026
The influence of the Queen City is ubiquitous: The fast food is Skyline Chili, not Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the Reds and Bengals are as important as the Wildcats.
From Slate ● May 19, 2026
Fried chicken, potato salad, ham sandwiches, chocolate cupcakes, even a jumbo can of peaches in heavy syrup.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
