fodder
Americannoun
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coarse food for livestock, composed of entire plants, including leaves, stalks, and grain, of such forages as corn and sorghum.
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people considered as readily available and of little value.
cannon fodder.
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raw material.
fodder for a comedian's routine.
verb (used with object)
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to feed with or as if with fodder.
noun
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bulk feed for livestock, esp hay, straw, etc
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raw experience or material
fodder for the imagination
verb
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(tr) to supply (livestock) with fodder
Related Words
See feed.
Etymology
Origin of fodder
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English fodder, fōdor; cognate with German Futter; akin to food
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The novel partnership between students and police to break open a decades-old murder case, with a love triangle at its center, was irresistible fodder for the media’s true-crime boom.
From Slate • Apr. 6, 2026
Blessedly, these ballerinas didn’t learn their skills in prison or the foster system, and their tutus are not fodder for a satanic pyre.
From Salon • Mar. 29, 2026
They remember the shows that defined their childhood; that had them planted on couches for appointment viewing; that they binged when streaming came into the picture; that were fodder for water-cooler conversations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026
Adding to the costs was the expensive fodder that farmers had to buy while their herds were unable to graze in the open fields.
From Barron's • Mar. 13, 2026
“How much food and fodder do you think Galbart Glover has laid by?”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.