Word of the Day

: July 10, 2007

fraught

adjective FRAWT

What It Means

1 : full of or accompanied by something specified -- used with with

2 : causing or characterized by emotional distress or tension : uneasy

fraught in Context

The doctor warned her patient that the experimental procedure was fraught with problems.

Did You Know?

"The drowmound was so hevy fraught / That unethe myght it saylen aught." That verse, from the 14th-century poem "Richard Coer de Lion," says that a large ship (a dromond) was so heavily loaded that it could barely sail. That's the first instance we have on record of the adjective "fraught." The word came to Middle English from the Middle Dutch or Middle Low German noun "vracht," which meant "load" and which is also the source of the word "freight." Middle English also possessed a noun "fraught" that meant "load" and a verb "fraughten" that meant "to load" (meanings still retained in Scottish English by "fraught," the verb and noun). For centuries, "fraught" continued to be used only of loaded ships, but its use was eventually broadened.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.