1
: something fed to domestic animals
especially
: coarse food for cattle, horses, or sheep
2
: inferior or readily available material used to supply a heavy demand
fodder for tabloids
This sort of breezy plot line has become cheap fodder for novelists and screenwriters …—
Sally Bedell
Sally Bedell
fodder
transitive verb
Examples of fodder in a Sentence
His antics always make good fodder for the gossip columnists.
She often used her friends' problems as fodder for her novels.
Recent Examples on the Web
The visibility of middlemen based in rich countries has long provided fodder to detractors who claim that the aid industry operates inefficiently or even unjustly.
—Zainab Usman, Foreign Affairs, 5 May 2025
Some of those birds, the organization says, end up as fodder for a controversial but legal sport with committed defenders, in which the main object is to toss a live bird in the air and shoot it.
—Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 3 May 2025
However, the Department of Defense’s list of Chinese military companies operating in the U.S. could provide fodder for officials considering an expansion of these limits.
—Owen Tedford, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2025
The comments quickly became fodder for critics who pointed out that space flights can contribute to pollution and that Bezos, also the founder of Amazon, has a large negative environmental footprint.
—Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 17 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fodder
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Zainab Usman, Foreign Affairs, 5 May 2025
Some of those birds, the organization says, end up as fodder for a controversial but legal sport with committed defenders, in which the main object is to toss a live bird in the air and shoot it.
—Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 3 May 2025
However, the Department of Defense’s list of Chinese military companies operating in the U.S. could provide fodder for officials considering an expansion of these limits.
—Owen Tedford, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2025
The comments quickly became fodder for critics who pointed out that space flights can contribute to pollution and that Bezos, also the founder of Amazon, has a large negative environmental footprint.
—Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 17 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fodder
Cite this Entry
“Fodder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fodder. Accessed 17 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fodder
noun
fod·der
ˈfäd-ər 
: coarse dry food (as cornstalks) for livestock
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