fraught

1 of 3

adjective

ˈfrȯt

Synonyms of fraught

: full of or accompanied by something specified

—used with with

a situation fraught with danger

The paper was poorly researched and is fraught with errors.

: causing or characterized by emotional distress or tension : uneasy

a fraught relationship

archaic

: laden

: well supplied or provided

fraught

2 of 3

noun

ˈfrȯḵt

chiefly Scotland

: load, cargo

fraught

3 of 3

verb

ˈfrȯḵt

fraughted or fraught; fraughting

transitive verb

chiefly Scotland

: load, freight

Did you know?

An early instance of the word fraught occurs in the 14th century poem Richard Coer de Lion, about England’s King Richard I. “The drowmound was so hevy fraught / That unethe myght it saylen aught” is about a large fast-sailing ship so heavily fraught—that is, loaded—that it can barely sail. The use is typical for the time; originally, something that was fraught was laden with freight. For centuries, fraught continued to be used in relation to loaded ships, but its use was eventually broadened for situations that are heavy with tension, emotion, or some other weighty characteristic.

Examples of fraught in a Sentence

Adjective every room in my childhood home is fraught with memories had a fraught meeting with his estranged wife to discuss a divorce settlement

Recent Examples on the Web

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Adjective

Many movies about clones feature cloning as an ethically fraught luxury enjoyed by the superrich, but Us is much more sweeping in its implications. —James Grebey, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2025 Why care at all? DOOM meets a fraught moment with no answers. —Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 4 Mar. 2025 The debate over free speech on campus became particularly fraught in recent years as college presidents came under scrutiny for how their institutions have handled a rise in antisemitism on their campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. —Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY, 3 Mar. 2025 President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were scheduled to sign a minerals deal Friday at the White House and then hold a joint press conference in a choreographed show of solidarity aimed at repairing their increasingly fraught relationship. —Dan Perry, Newsweek, 28 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fraught

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle English frauȝt, frawt "loaded, burdened," from past participle of fraughten "to load (a ship with cargo)" — more at fraught entry 3

Note: See note at fraught entry 2.

Noun

Middle English fraght, fraught (early Scots fraught), borrowed from Middle Dutch & Middle Low German vracht "cargo, charge for transport," borrowed from Old Frisian, going back to West Germanic *fraihti-, probably "what is given over or consigned to someone" — more at freight entry 1

Note: English has borrowed the same continental Germanic etymon in two distinct forms, exemplified by fraught entry 2 and synonymous freight entry 1. The first of these was a loan from Middle Dutch and Middle Low German, though the a vocalism suggests that its source is ultimately Old Frisian. At a relatively early date it spread south and west into the Dutch speech area, and east into the Low German area, presumably as a commercial term, and then from these areas to English and the Scandinavian languages. (See M. de Vaan, "West-Germanic *ai in Frisian," Amsterdamer Beiträge zur alteren Germanistik, Band 67 [2011], pp. 301-14.) English also borrowed Middle Dutch vrecht, whence freight entry 1, with the e vocalism exemplifying the normal development of Germanic *ai in this position in Dutch. In present-day English, only freight continues the noun, The noun and verb fraught are now only represented by Scots fraucht, fracht, still perhaps in regional use (see The Concise Scots Dictionary), while fraught as an adjective persists only in figurative senses.