Word.ws English Dictionary

on the fritz

on the fritz prepositional phrase: out of order; malfunctioning; broken.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (Northern-US, US, especially) Out of order; malfunctioning; broken.
    • I'd record it, but my tape deck is on the fritz again.
    • My washing machine has gone on the fritz, and I have a load of muddy clothes to clean.

Examples of on the fritz in a sentence

  • Why was our pilot telling us about questionable brakes and a computer on the fritz when we still had a landing to worry about five hours ahead?2000 November 5, Bob Morris, “Don't Spill It on Me”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  • No ′40s movie heroine worth the name would have a house that let in gusts of gelid air, had a heating system that went on the fritz constantly and leaked.2004, Lisa Marie Rice, Woman On the Run, page 32:
  • “Or your cell-phone reception went on the fritz.2006, Nero Blanc, Death on the Diagonal, page 191:
  • Some time ago, a tenant called me and said her refrigerator was on the fritz.2010, Ralph Bowersox, Ralph's True Stories: Entertaining Chronicles of Life in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, Late 1920s through the Present...

Synonyms of on the fritz

Origin of on the fritz

Unknown. Attested from 1902, originally meaning “in a bad way” or “in bad condition”, malfunctioning of an appliance. Perhaps from German name Fritz, or onomatopoeic (imitating the sound of electric sparks jumping).

Words formed from on the fritz

Words that rhyme with on the fritz

25 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about on the fritz

What does on the fritz mean?
On the fritz means out of order; malfunctioning; broken.
How do you use on the fritz in a sentence?
Why was our pilot telling us about questionable brakes and a computer on the fritz when we still had a landing to worry about five hours ahead?
What part of speech is on the fritz?
On the fritz is a prepositional phrase.

Words near on the fritz in the dictionary

  1. on the flat
  2. on the flip side
  3. on the flipside
  4. on the floor
  5. on the fly
  6. on the fritz
  7. on the front burner
  8. on the front foot
  9. on the full
  10. on the game
  11. on the go

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on the fritz (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.

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Cite this entry: “on the fritz.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/on_the_fritz. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.