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.
Adjective
every room in my childhood home is fraught with memories
had a fraught meeting with his estranged wife to discuss a divorce settlement
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Adjective
The Timberwolves needed a win on Sunday against the Utah Jazz to secure a top-six seed in the Western Conference playoffs and avoid the fraught path that is the Play-In Tournament.—Jon Krawczynski, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025 And while the energy never dipped, with fans jumping, dancing, and singing along for the entire hour-and-a-half set, some of the biggest reactions came after Armstrong tweaked some lyrics to reflect the current fraught political climate.—Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 13 Apr. 2025 Devaluation is a fraught remedy more often attempted by third-world countries.—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 12 Apr. 2025 Open support of or benefitting from the previous administration’s policy is a fraught proposition.—Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 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
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
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