fried

adjective

ˈfrīd 

1

: cooked in hot oil or butter : cooked by frying

fried eggs

fried chicken

fried dough

2

: damaged or destroyed by an electrical surge or malfunction

The man behind the counter hooked up my computer to another machine and then gave me the bad news. "I'm afraid your hard drive is fried," the technician said.

—Tom McNichol

3

US, informal

a

: intoxicated, high

… too fried on crystal meth to be gambling on a game of pool, but doing it nonetheless.

—Joseph Wambaugh

… what about that time you got fried at the frat house after the big game against State and the judge fined you $50 and costs for dropping quarts of beer in paper bags out the second-floor window?

—Russell Baker

b

: mentally exhausted

At dinner after the book signing, he's fried, barely able to converse.

—Rick Martin

After spending about 14 hours on ESPN Radio, SportsCenter and espn.com, Gammons was completely fried.

—Rich Eisen

Synonyms

• besotted
• blasted [slang]
• blind
• blitzed [slang]
• blotto [slang]
• bombed
• boozy
• canned [slang]
• cockeyed
• crocked
• drunk
• drunken
• gassed
• hammered [slang]
• high
• impaired
• inebriate
• inebriated
• intoxicated
• juiced [slang]
• lit
• lit up
• loaded [slang]
• looped
• oiled [slang]
• pickled
• pie-eyed
• plastered
• potted [slang]
• ripped [slang]
• sloshed [slang]
• smashed [slang]
• sottish
• soused
• sozzled
• squiffed
• squiffy
• stewed
• stiff
• stinking [slang]
• stoned
• tanked [slang]
• tiddly [chiefly British]
• tight
• tipsy
• wasted [slang]
• wet
• wiped out [slang]

Examples of fried in a Sentence

Sorry, I'm just fried today.

grew up in a family in which Dad got fried on every weekend and holiday

Recent Examples on the Web

The burritos are filled with home fries-ish bits of potato, cheddar cheese, three eggs cooked on the griddle, sausage or fried bacon. —Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2025

For brunch, there are the likes of Stillhouse Eggs Benedict with fried green tomatoes, Koko’s Biscuits & Gravy, and Chicken & Waffles. —Susan B. Barnes, Southern Living, 27 Apr. 2025

Begin with a platter of oysters, maybe the frogs’ legs in garlic butter and then the 16-ounce strip steak or Pat’s fried chicken. —John Mariani, Forbes.com, 25 Apr. 2025

The toasted cheddar street chalupas have cheddar cheese baked into the fried shells. —Sabrina Weiss, People.com, 27 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing fried

• chicken-fried steak
• fried rice

Rhymes for fried

• bide
• bride
• chide
• cried
• died
• dried
• dyed
• eid
• eide
• eyed
• flied
• glide