noun
Meaning 1
One or more small or immature fish.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Phrase guide
small fry
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
noun
Meaning 2
One or more children.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: informal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
One or more relatively small and insignificant individuals or things of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic
Examples
- 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.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: small potatoes, minnow, nobody, no one
Antonyms: big fish
noun
Meaning 4
a young person of either sex
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- she writes books for children
- they're just kids
- `tiddler' is a British term for youngster
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: child, kid, youngster, minor, shaver, nipper, tiddler, tike, tyke, fry, nestling
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: juvenile, juvenile person
Narrower terms: bairn, buster, changeling, child prodigy, infant prodigy, wonder child, foster-child, foster child, fosterling, imp, scamp, monkey, rascal, rapscallion, scalawag, scallywag, kiddy, orphan, peanut, pickaninny, piccaninny, picaninny, poster child, preschooler, kindergartner, kindergartener, silly, sprog, toddler, yearling, tot, bambino, urchin, waif, street child
noun
Meaning 5
someone who is small and insignificant
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pip-squeak, squirt
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: cipher, cypher, nobody, nonentity
History
Etymology
From small + fry, first use appears c. 1577, in the publications of John Dee.
Across languages
Translations
32 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Finnish: pikkukala — one or more small fish
- Ancient Greek: ἀφύη (aphúē) — one or more small fish
- Japanese: 雑魚 (zako) — one or more small fish
- Korean: 잔챙이 (janchaeng'i) — one or more small fish
- Macedonian: ри́пче (rípče) — one or more small fish
- Middle English: menuse — one or more small fish
- Russian: малёк (maljók) — one or more small fish
- Russian: мелюзга́ (meljuzgá) — one or more small fish
- Russian: ме́лкая рыбёшка (mélkaja rybjóška) — one or more small fish
- Russian: ры́бка (rýbka) — one or more small fish
- Finnish: pikkuväki — one or more children
- Russian: детвора́ (detvorá) — one or more children
- Russian: мелюзга́ (meljuzgá) — one or more children
- Russian: ме́лочь (méločʹ) — one or more children
- Russian: ребяти́шки (rebjatíški) — one or more children
- Dutch: klein bier — things or people of little importance
- Esperanto: nulo — things or people of little importance
- Faroese: æti — things or people of little importance
- Finnish: pikkutekijä — things or people of little importance
- Finnish: pikkujuttu — things or people of little importance
- French: menu fretin — things or people of little importance
- German: kleine Fische — things or people of little importance
- Japanese: 雑魚 (zako) — things or people of little importance
- Korean: 잔챙이 (janchaeng'i) — things or people of little importance
- Macedonian: си́тна ри́ба (sítna ríba) — things or people of little importance
- Polish: błahostka — things or people of little importance
- Polish: blotka — things or people of little importance
- Polish: płotka — things or people of little importance
- Russian: ме́лочь (méločʹ) — things or people of little importance
- Russian: ме́лкая со́шка (mélkaja sóška) — things or people of little importance
- Russian: ме́лкая рыбёшка (mélkaja rybjóška) — things or people of little importance
- Spanish: Don Nadie — things or people of little importance