fraught
/fɹɔːt/ noun, verb, adjective
Forms fraughts fraughting fraughted fraughtest fraughtedst fraughteth fraughter
- noun The hire of a boat or ship to transport cargo.
- noun Money paid to hire a vessel for this purpose; freight. “fraught money”
- noun The transportation of goods, especially in a boat or ship.
- noun A ship's cargo; freight, lading.
- noun Two bucketfuls.
- noun (figurative) A burden, a load.
- verb (nautical, obsolete) To load (a boat, ship, or other vessel) with cargo.
- verb (figurative, archaic or obsolete) To burden or load (someone or something).
- verb (figurative, archaic or obsolete) Followed by with: to furnish or provide (something).
- verb (Scotland, nautical, obsolete) To hire (a vessel) to transport cargo or passengers.
- verb (Scotland, nautical, obsolete) To transport (cargo or passengers) in a vessel; to freight.
- verb (intransitive, obsolete) To form the cargo or passengers of a vessel.
- adjective (nautical) Of a boat, ship, or other vessel: laden with cargo.
- adjective Followed by with: carrying, or charged or loaded up with (usually something negative); accompanied by; entailing.
- adjective (specifically) Carrying or loaded with anxiety, fear, or stress, for example, due to complexity or difficulty; distressed; also, causing distress; distressing. “a fraught relationship a fraught process”
- adjective Followed by with: furnished, provided.
Synonyms
equip supply freighted rife wrought-up equipped supplied pregnant
Antonyms
Etymology
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.
* Old English ǣht (“livestock; property; possession; power”)
* Old High German frēht (“earnings”) (modern German fracht)
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).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A freight; a cargo. [Obs.] Shak.
- adjective Freighted; laden; filled; stored; charged.
- verb To freight; to load; to burden; to fill; to crowd. [Obs.]
Etymology [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf. Freight.]
Etymology [Akin to Dan. fragte, Sw. frakta, D. bevrachten, G. frachten, cf. OHG. frehton to deserve. See Fraught, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fraught”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details