fritter
/ˈfɹɪtə(ɹ)//ˈfɹɪtɚ/
fritter noun: synonym of pancake, a portion of batter fried on a pan.
Noun
fritter (plural fritters)
- Synonym of pancake, a portion of batter fried on a pan.
- Synonyms:
- pancake
- A dish made by coating various other foods in batter and frying or deep-frying them together, typically in small portions.
- A fragment; a shred; a small piece.
- And cut whole giants into fritters.1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished...
Verb
fritter (third-person singular simple present fritters, present participle frittering, simple past and past participle frittered)
- To squander or waste time, money, or other resources; e.g. occupy oneself idly or without clear purpose, to tinker with an unimportant part of a project, to dally, sometimes as a form of procrastination.
- I was supposed to do work, but I frittered around all afternoon.
- He can’t figure out how to finish the paper he’s writing, so he’s resorted to frittering with the fonts.
- To sinter.
- To cut (meat etc.) into small pieces for frying.
- To break into small pieces or fragments.
- Break all nerves, and fritter all their sense.1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC
fritter meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
fritter in Tamil
- வடை, வாய்ப்புகளைக் கோட்டைவிடுதல், தவறவிடுதல்
fritter in Urdu
- چیتھڑا, دھجی, ٹکڑا, پیسہ برباد کرنا, ٹکڑے ٹکڑے کرنا
fritter in Malayalam
- dish made by deep-frying
- വറ vaṟa
fritter in Kannada
- ಚೂರುಚೂರು ಮಾಡು, ಪೋಲು ಮಾಡು
More languagesFewer languages
- fritter in Punjabi
- ਪੂੜਾ pūṛā
- fritter in Tagalog
- maruya
- fritter in Persian
- بنیه benye
- fritter in Myanmar
- အကြော် a.krau
Examples of fritter in a sentence
- The leisured class may produce great advances in the arts, or it may fritter away its time.
- Keep frittering money and resources away on such media for as long as you live or want.
- Guests can also purchase apple fritters, Long Johns, bread pudding and ensaymadas.
Synonyms of fritter
Forms of fritter
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fritters |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fritters |
| present participle | frittering |
| past participle | frittered |
| past | frittered |
Origin of fritter
Inherited from Middle English fryture, from Middle French friture, from Old French friture, from Vulgar Latin *frīctūra, from Latin frīgō (“to fry”); compare fry. For the development of Middle English /iu̯r(ə)/ into /ə(ɹ)/, compare armour, batter, border, solder.
Words formed from fritter
- apple fritter
- corn fritter
- French fritter
- fritter batter
- fritterlike
- fritterware
- oyster fritter
- rice fritter
- spam fritter
- fritter away
- frittered
- fritterer
- frittering
Words that rhyme with fritter
18 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about fritter
- What does fritter mean?
- Fritter means synonym of pancake, a portion of batter fried on a pan.
- What is fritter in Tamil?
- Fritter in Tamil is வடை, வாய்ப்புகளைக் கோட்டைவிடுதல், தவறவிடுதல். See Fritter meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is fritter?
- Fritter can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce fritter?
- Fritter is pronounced /ˈfɹɪtə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of fritter?
- The plural of fritter is fritters.
Words near fritter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fritter (page history and authors); fritter (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fritter (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fritter (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਪੂੜਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fritter.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-fritter.wav.
Cite this entry: “fritter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fritter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.