fraught

American  

[frawt] / frɔt /

adjective

1. full of, accompanied by, or involving something specified, usually something unpleasant (often followed bywith ): her pain-fraught body; a gathering fraught with joyful sounds.

   a task fraught with danger;

   her pain-fraught body;

   emotionally fraught lyrics;

   a gathering fraught with joyful sounds.

2. characterized by or causing tension or stress: We are living in fraught times.

   He has always been overweight, so his relationship with food is fraught.

   We are living in fraught times.

3. Archaic. filled or laden.

   ships fraught with precious wares.

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noun

1. Scot. a load; cargo; freight (of a ship).

fraught British  

/ frɔːt /

adjective

1. filled or charged; attended

   a venture fraught with peril

2. informal showing or producing tension or anxiety

   she looks rather fraught

   a fraught situation

3. archaic freighted

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noun

1. an obsolete word for freight

Other Word Forms

• overfraught
  adjective
• unfraught
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of fraught

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vracht “freight money, freight”; compare Old High German frēht “earnings,” Old English ǣht “possession”; see freight

Explanation

Fraught means filled with something — often something bad. Your Thanksgiving was fraught with awkward moments when your family saw your blue hair, and it only got worse when you told them you'd quit law school to join the circus. Fraught is related to the word freight, and comes from the Middle English fraughten, meaning "to load with cargo." Think of a cargo ship loaded up with freight for a journey — it's full of supplies, just like Thanksgiving was filled with — or fraught with — awkward moments. Fraught can also describe a situation filled with distress. If relations between two countries are fraught, they are not getting along with each other.

Example Sentences

By the time I moved to Beijing in 2017, the relationship was relatively stable though still fraught.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026

And again, to be frank, the mission to the US to rebuild bridges did look fraught with danger.

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026

Plus sundry hallucinations, bad dreams, possession, dark spaces, creepy noises, fraught family relations — and, as with so many horror stories, a bad thing in the past bringing down the future.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026

Relations between the two were fraught for years, leading to direct clashes in April 2024 on the Mauritanian border.

From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026

A scream pierces the air, so loud and fraught with fear that it gives me a chill despite the heat of the day.

From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland

Related Words

• charged
• filled
• replete