fraught
Americanadjective
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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.
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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.
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Archaic. filled or laden.
ships fraught with precious wares.
noun
adjective
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filled or charged; attended
a venture fraught with peril
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informal showing or producing tension or anxiety
she looks rather fraught
a fraught situation
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archaic freighted
noun
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”; freight
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It would be hard to think of an artist with a more fraught origin story than Noguchi.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
Magyar is partly cutting through the fraught media landscape using social media.
From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026
In entertainment circles, the Oscar curse is a dreaded phenomenon, characterized by actors who have been nominated or won an Oscar, only for their post-prestige careers to be fraught with flops.
From Salon • Mar. 22, 2026
She and Grace exchange a few looks so fraught with meaning that you almost wonder if a romantic subplot got cut.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
Although Dad’s driving was fraught with peril, there was a strange fascination in its brushes with death and its dramatic, traffic-stopping scenes.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
