have bigger fish to fry
/hæv ˌbɪɡə fɪʃ tə ˈfraɪ/NEUTRAL · C1
Meaning
to have more important things to deal with
Examples
- 1Forget the colour of the invitations; we have bigger fish to fry, including finding a venue.
- 2With a leaking roof to repair, the landlord has bigger fish to fry than choosing curtains.
- 3I have bigger fish to fry; fixing our broken boiler must come before rearranging the bookshelves.
- 4The team had bigger fish to fry: restoring the lost files mattered more than changing the logo.
- 5We have bigger fish to fry right now; finding somewhere to live takes priority over choosing new towels.
Grammar
Only have changes: has, had. Have other fish to fry is a common variant; keep fry in the base form.
More idioms about animals
All 20 idioms and the topic quiz →have a bee in your bonnetto keep talking about an idea you consider very importanta wild goose chasea pointless search that cannot succeedbark up the wrong treeto be mistaken about a cause or solutionthe lion's sharethe largest part of somethingsmell a ratto suspect that something is dishonest or misleadinga one-trick ponysomeone or something skilled at only one kind of task
English Idioms400 idioms in 20 topics — with reviews that keep them from fading
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