fritter away

Idioms and Phrases

Squander or waste little by little; wear down gradually. For example, She frittered away her salary on odds and ends and saved nothing . This expression was first recorded in Alexander Pope's Dunciad (1728): “How prologues into prefaces decay, And these to notes are fritter'd quite away.”

Example Sentences

The article reports that -- contrary to popular belief -- massive multiplayer online gamers learn by gaming and their skills in the workplace are enriched by those seemingly endless hours previously thought of as frittering away time.

From Science Daily

In reality, it was money "frittered away" by their daughter.

From BBC

If this adds a hint of mitigation for England's failure to secure a second successive 3-0 clean sweep, there are few excuses for the way the hosts frittered away this Test.

From BBC

England frittered away wickets and shipped easy runs on Saturday.

From BBC

Ray plainly resents Bankman-Fried for trying to blame the bankruptcy team for frittering away FTX’s value and his claim that he tried to help Ray restructure the company but was rebuffed.

From Los Angeles Times