T-learning # Idiom
Speak Like a Native

to have bigger fish to fry

Choose the correct definition a, b or c.

a) to have troubles

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.

b) to be very uncomfortable

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.

c) to have more important things to do

Well done ! That’s the right answer.

If someones has other fish to fry or has bigger fish to fry, they have other things, more important things, to do.

French translation

avoir mieux à faire, avoir d’autres chats à fouetter

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Examples in context

‘Obama : I’ve got ‘bigger fish to fry’ than pot smokers.

In an interview with ABC News, President Obama told Barbara Walters that recreational pot smoking in states that have legalized the drug is not a major concern for his administration. ’

The Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2012

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’Terence Corcoran : Mark Carney finds a bigger fish to fry

A master of jargon, a highly skilled communicator and obviously bursting with ambition, Mark Carney being appointed by Her Majesty the Queen (as the news release put it) to be the next Governor of the Bank of England comes as a complete surprise — that now seems not at all surprising. Whether this is what England or the world economy needs is another question.’

National Post, 26 Nov. 2012

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Everyday usage

I won’t waste time on your question. I have bigger fish to fry.

The industry minister at the time had much bigger fish to fry to achieve his own political goals.


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