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Fritter vs Squander - What's the difference?

fritter | squander |

As verbs the difference between fritter and squander

is that fritter is to occupy oneself idly or without clear purpose, to tinker with an unimportant part of a project, to dally, sometimes as a form of procrastination while squander is to waste, lavish, splurge; to spend lavishly or profusely; to dissipate.

As a noun fritter

is a dish made by deep-frying food coated in batter.

fritter

English

(wikipedia fritter)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A dish made by deep-frying food coated in batter.
  • A fragment; a shred; a small piece.
  • * Hudibras
    • And cut whole giants into fritters .

    Derived terms

    * apple fritter * corn fritter * French fritter * fritter batter * fritterware * oyster fritter * rice fritter * spam fritter

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To occupy oneself idly or without clear purpose, to tinker with an unimportant part of a project, to dally, sometimes as a form of procrastination.
    • I was supposed to do work, but I frittered around all afternoon.
    He can’t figure out how to finish the paper he’s writing, so he’s resorted to frittering with the fonts.
  • To sinter.
  • To cut (meat etc.) into small pieces for frying.
  • To break into small pieces or fragments.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Break all nerves, and fritter all their sense.

    Derived terms

    * fritter away * frittered * fritterer * frittering

    See also

    * tempura ----

    squander

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To waste, lavish, splurge; to spend lavishly or profusely; to dissipate.
  • * 1746 , Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac Agribusiness Management
    • Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=September 24 , author=David Ornstein , title=Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=As the game opened up, Bolton squandered a fine opportunity to equalise - Chris Eagles shooting straight at Szczesny - but then back came Arsenal.}}
  • (obsolete) To scatter; to disperse.
  • * Dryden
    • Our squandered troops he rallies.
  • To wander at random; to scatter.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The wise man's folly is anatomized / Even by squandering glances of the fool.

    Usage notes

    Squander implies starting with many resources, such as great wealth, and then wasting them (using them up to little purpose or little effect), often ending with little. Particularly used in phrases such as “squander an opportunity” or “squander an inheritance”. It may be used even if one starts with little, though usually in some construction such as “squander what little he had”.

    Synonyms

    * waste, splurge * ducks and drakes * throw away

    References