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

Eby suggests topping plain Greek yogurt with fried eggs, avocado, salmon, crispy chickpeas or marinated cherry tomatoes. —Andee Tagle, NPR, 18 Jan. 2025

Today’s fried green tomatoes are double-breaded and served with a special Mississippi comeback sauce. —Carolanne Griffith Roberts, Southern Living, 5 Jan. 2025

The classic pork bao remains a crowd-pleaser, but don’t overlook the fried chicken version, marinated in soy milk and topped with golden kimchi, hot sauce and a spicy mayo that’s just the right side of indulgent. —Lela London, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2025

He’s captured the kiwi burger (with beet slices and fried egg) in New Zealand, the Croque McDo (with Emmental cheese and ham) in France, edamame and corn Happy Meals in Japan, the bulgogi burger in South Korea and pineapple pie à la mode in Thailand. —Craig Nakano, Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing fried

• chicken-fried steak
• fried rice