Bigger Fish to Fry | Definition & Examples
If you have bigger fish to fry, it means there is more important work to do than you are involved in at the moment (or are being asked to help with). Having bigger fish to fry is an idiom, which is a type of figurative language. Idioms help us to express an idea in more interesting ways or ways that soften any offense that might be caused.
If you’re unsure what an idiom means, you can always ask the QuillBot AI chat for an answer or even some suggestions for similar idioms or sayings.
Ed liked to feel important and often cried off mundane tasks by claiming he had bigger fish to fry.
What does having bigger fish to fry mean?
If you say you have bigger fish to fry, you are saying that your time or talents are too important to be wasted on the current activity or an activity you are being asked to take part in.
Having bigger fish to fry means that there is a hierarchy of importance in tasks, and your time should be spent on the more important ones. It is often used as a way of expressing the relative status of people involved in a range of tasks (e.g., “The congressperson left the meet-and-greet to go and talk to the senator, telling her aides that she had bigger fish to fry”).
The mark of a great leader is that, while they might have bigger fish to fry than their subordinates, they never consider themselves too important to engage in mundane tasks.
“Let’s not get distracted by these little things,” the CEO exhorted her staff. “We all have much bigger fish to fry.”
What’s the origin of bigger fish to fry?
The simple answer is that no one really knows! The similar phrase “other fish to fry” was first found in print in 1670, but the “bigger” variety isn’t found until the 19th century.
Frequently asked questions about bigger fish to fry
- Is it “bigger fish to fry” or “other fish to fry”?
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Both idioms are perfectly correct. Having bigger fish to fry suggests that your time is too important for lesser tasks, whereas having other fish to fry simply suggests that you need to be doing other things.
Idioms can be tricky to understand, and that’s where the QuillBot AI chat can help you. It will give you the definition and answer any questions you may have about it.
- What are some alternatives to bigger fish to fry?
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There are a few idioms in English that can be used in place of having bigger to fish to fry (although they don’t all mean exactly the same thing). These include:
- Other things on my plate
- More pressing matters
- More urgent business to attend to
- Other irons in the fire
- More important things to worry about
Idioms aren’t always easy to understand, and that’s where the QuillBot AI chat can help you. You can ask for the definition, and it will answer any questions you may have about the idiom.
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Marshall, T. (2025, August 28). Bigger Fish to Fry | Definition & Examples. Quillbot. Retrieved October 15, 2025, from https://quillbot.com/blog/idioms/bigger-fish-to-fry/
