wrought

[ rawt ]

verb

1. Archaic except in some senses. a simple past tense and past participle of work.

adjective

1. worked.
2. elaborated; embellished.
3. not rough or crude.
4. produced or shaped by beating with a hammer, as iron or silver articles.

wrought

/ rɔːt /

verb

1. See work
   archaic.
   a past tense and past participle of work

adjective

1. metallurgy shaped by hammering or beating
2. often in combination formed, fashioned, or worked as specified

   well-wrought

3. decorated or made with delicate care

Usage

Wrought is sometimes used as if it were the past tense and past participle of wreak as in the hurricane wrought havoc in coastal areas. Many people think this use is incorrect

Other Words From

• inter·wrought adjective
• self-wrought adjective
• super·wrought adjective
• under·wrought adjective
• un·wrought adjective
• well-wrought adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of wrought¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English wroght, metathetic variant of worht, past participle of worchen “to work”; work

Word History and Origins

Origin of wrought¹

C16: variant of worht, from Old English geworht, past participle of ( ge ) wyrcan to work

Synonym Study

See worked.

Example Sentences

Made in the image of coach Kirby Smart, Georgia’s spread-optimized defense wrought carnage all season long.

From FiveThirtyEight

The timing flaw allows a malware-wrought page to race to access memory and all your other pages, not only those pages opened by following a link from one to another, but any page open in your browser.

From Search Engine Land

The timing flaw allows a malware wrought page to race to access memory and all your other pages, not only those pages opened by following a link from one to another, but any page open in your browser.

From Search Engine Land

That might not be enough, though, to chase away everything 2020 wrought.

From Washington Post

You sit down again and stare at the stage, enthralled by the magic wrought on you.

From MIT Technology Review

Oh, the heaven and hell wrought by the casual use of a pronoun.

From The Daily Beast

Then as now, the majority of Americans had little interest in examining the nuclear sword of Damocles their fear had wrought.

From The Daily Beast

So I was more wrought with nerves about that than almost anything in that number.

From The Daily Beast

They are as emotionally-wrought and heartbreaking as Davis describes.

From The Daily Beast

This deft, delicately wrought story is Murakami at his best.

From The Daily Beast

His parents were peasants and he wrought as a day laborer till he attracted attention.

From Project Gutenberg

This unreasoning, feminine obstinacy so wrought upon him that he permitted himself a smile and a lapse into irony and banter.

From Project Gutenberg

The baby's white robe, finely wrought in open-work, was also done, and freshly washed and ironed.

From Project Gutenberg

Garnache need not plague himself with vexation that his rash temper alone had wrought his ruin now.

From Project Gutenberg

The boiler was of wrought iron, built in brickwork, and looked like a big kitchen-boiler.

From Project Gutenberg