fraught

1 of 3

adjective

ˈfrȯt 

1

: 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.

2

: causing or characterized by emotional distress or tension : uneasy

a fraught relationship

3

archaic

a

: laden

b

: 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.

Synonyms

Adjective

• abounding
• abundant
• awash
• flush
• lousy
• replete
• rife
• swarming
• teeming
• thick
• thronging

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

Adjective

In Ren, Dillman has written a complex character who makes decisions that are often understandable yet morally fraught. —Emily McClanathan, Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2025

But at the root is also something very fraught, a willingness to see all art as both interchangeable and purchase-able. —Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 1 Apr. 2025

The Trump administration remained publicly defiant this week as its immigration crackdown exploded into a global spectacle, ignited by two legally fraught deportation drives. —Zachary Basu, Axios, 29 Mar. 2025

In Germany, where memory and forgetting are bound up with vast guilt, the question of how to handle these remains is especially fraught. —Natasha Frost, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025

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.

Verb

Middle English fraughten (early Scots frawcht), verbal derivative of fraght, fraught "load, freight" — more at fraught entry 2

First Known Use

Adjective

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3a

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing fraught

• fraught with

Rhymes for fraught

• aught
• baht
• blot
• bott
• bought
• brought
• caught
• clot
• cot
• cott
• dot
• fought

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Kids Definition

fraught

adjective

ˈfrȯt

: full of something specified

fraught with danger