fritter
/'fritə/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Verb:
- To spend money, time, or energy in a wasteful, frivolous, or unwise manner, typically on small, unimportant, or trivial things.
Noun:
- A small piece of food, often fruit, vegetables, or meat, coated in batter and deep-fried.
Usage
- Verb: The verb "fritter" is almost always used with the particle "away" (as in "fritter away"). It describes the gradual, careless dissipation of a resource.
- Noun: The noun "fritter" is a countable noun used to describe a specific type of fried food.
Examples
- Verb:
- He tends to fritter away his weekends watching television.
- She frittered her inheritance on luxury vacations and expensive cars.
- Noun:
- For dessert, we had apple fritters with ice cream.
- The street vendor sells delicious corn fritters.
Advanced Usage
- "To fritter something away": This is the standard phrasal verb construction. The object (time, money, talent) is placed between "fritter" and "away."
- Don't fritter your savings away on impulse purchases.
- The verb can sometimes be used without "away" in more literary contexts, though this is less common.
- He frittered his talents on projects that never came to fruition.
Variants and Related Words
- Fritterer (n): A person who fritters resources away.
- Frittering (n/gerund): The act of wasting something frivolously.
Synonyms
- Verb: Squander, waste, dissipate, misspend.
- Noun: Patty, croquette.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Fritter away: To waste something gradually and carelessly.
- It's easy to fritter away a whole afternoon on social media.
Related Idioms
- "Fritter away one's time/money": The most common idiomatic use of the verb.
- He had a great opportunity but frittered it away through indecision.
Noun
- small quantity of fried batter containing fruit or meat or vegetables
Verb
- spend frivolously and unwisely
- Fritter away one's inheritance