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 entry 1, 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
4
of hair
: very dry, brittle, and damaged especially due to the effects of chemical treatments (as for straightening or coloring), heated styling tools (such as a hot comb or flat iron), or sun exposure
Whether you're embracing your natural curl pattern for the first time or washing your hair after heat-styling for a big event, you're likely dealing with some majorly fried strands. Any naturally curly-haired person knows the *sizzle, pop, and hiss* of their hair inside of an iron typically results in dry, damaged curls.—Caitlin Duggan
see also fried, dyed, and laid to the side
fried
2 of 2past tense and past participle of fry entry 1
Cite this Entry
“Fried.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fried. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.
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