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fraught.

The hire of a boat or ship to transport cargo.

7 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/fɹɔːt/Received-Pronunciation/fɹoːt/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/fɹɔt//fɹɑt/cot-caught-merger
  1. The hire of a boat or ship to transport cargo.

    also · figuratively · obsolete · uncountable · usually
  2. Money paid to hire a vessel for this purpose; freight.

    also · figuratively · obsolete · uncountable · usually
    fraught money
  3. The transportation of goods, especially in a boat or ship.

    also · figuratively · obsolete · uncountable · usually
  4. A ship's cargo; freight, lading.

    also · figuratively · obsolete · uncountable · usually
  5. Two bucketfuls.

    also · figuratively · obsolete · uncountable · usually
  6. A burden, a load.

    also · figuratively · obsolete · uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

From Middle English fraught, fraght, freght (“transport of goods or people (usually by water); charge for such transport; facilities for such transport; cargo or passengers of a ship; ballast of a ship; goods in general; (figurative) burden; charge”), from Middle Dutch vracht, vrecht, or Middle Low German vracht, vrecht (“cargo, freight; charge for transport of goods”), from Proto-Germanic *fra-aihtiz, from *fra- (intensifying prefix) + Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“acquisition; possessions, property”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to come into possession of, obtain; to own, possess”)). Doublet of freight. Cognates * Danish fragt * Old English ǣht (“livestock; property; possession; power”) * Old High German frēht (“earnings”) (modern German fracht) * Swedish frakt

verb/fɹɔːt/Received-Pronunciation/fɹoːt/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/fɹɔt//fɹɑt/cot-caught-merger
  1. To load (a boat, ship, or other vessel) with cargo.

    also · figuratively · obsolete · transitive
  2. To burden or load (someone or something).

    also · archaic · figuratively · obsolete · transitive
  3. Followed by with: to furnish or provide (something).

    also · archaic · figuratively · obsolete · transitive
  4. To hire (a vessel) to transport cargo or passengers.

    Scotland · also · figuratively · obsolete · transitive
  5. To transport (cargo or passengers) in a vessel; to freight.

    Scotland · also · figuratively · obsolete · transitive
  6. To form the cargo or passengers of a vessel.

    also · figuratively · intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

The verb is derived from Middle English fraughten, fraghten, freghten (“to hire (a ship, etc.) for transporting goods; to load (a ship, etc.) with cargo or passengers; to store, stow away; (figurative) to provide an ample supply of (goods, income, etc.)”), from Middle Dutch vrachten, vrechten, from vracht, vrecht (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming infinitives of verbs). The adjective is derived from Middle English fraught, fraght (“burdened, loaded”), the past participle of fraughten, fraghten (verb) (see above).

adj/fɹɔːt/Received-Pronunciation/fɹoːt/Australia, British, New-Zealand, Southern, Standard/fɹɔt//fɹɑt/cot-caught-merger
  1. Of a boat, ship, or other vessel: laden with cargo.

    also · figuratively · obsolete
  2. Followed by with: carrying, or charged or loaded up with (usually something negative); accompanied by; entailing.

    also · figuratively · obsolete
  3. Carrying or loaded with anxiety, fear, or stress, for example, due to complexity or difficulty; distressed; also, causing distress; distressing.

    also · figuratively · obsolete · specifically
    a fraught relationship    a fraught process
  4. Followed by with: furnished, provided.

    also · figuratively · obsolete
Where this word comes from

The verb is derived from Middle English fraughten, fraghten, freghten (“to hire (a ship, etc.) for transporting goods; to load (a ship, etc.) with cargo or passengers; to store, stow away; (figurative) to provide an ample supply of (goods, income, etc.)”), from Middle Dutch vrachten, vrechten, from vracht, vrecht (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming infinitives of verbs). The adjective is derived from Middle English fraught, fraght (“burdened, loaded”), the past participle of fraughten, fraghten (verb) (see above).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.