Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

small fry

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.88 in modern English

Syllables: smal-l- fry
IPA

16

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

One or more small or immature fish.

noun

One or more children.

Informal

noun

One or more relatively small and insignificant individuals or things of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.

Example Sentences

"After his death in 1950, his widow and a board of trustees who were left with responsibility of running the cranberry plant decided to continue the miniature railway's services to the "small fry", and it opened as usual on December 6, 1951."
"The police did not arrest the drug dealer since he was a small fry compared to his boss."
"These slot machines are just the small fry. The big games are in the back room."

Etymology

From small + fry, first use appears c. 1577, in the publications of John Dee.

Usage

Informal

Inflected Forms

small fries (plural)

Synonyms

small potatoes minnow nobody no one child kid youngster minor shaver nipper tiddler tike

Antonyms

big fish

Questions

What does small fry mean?: One or more small or immature fish.
Where does small fry come from?: From small + fry, first use appears c. 1577, in the publications of John Dee.

How to pronounce small fry

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