fraught

[frawt]

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.

noun

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

fraught

/ 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

noun

1. an obsolete word for freight

Other Word Forms

• overfraught adjective
• unfraught adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fraught¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of fraught¹

C14: from Middle Dutch vrachten , from vracht _freight

Example Sentences

The path the U.S. is on is fraught with risks.

Read more on Barron's

It covers the period from the end of World War II to the presidential campaigns of 1984, a time of fraught racial relations.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

“In a cycle where interest rate policy is politically fraught and inflation remains sticky, the Fed may find that the most effective easing tool is already hiding in plain sight.”

Read more on Wall Street Journal

For the hospitals, the situation isn’t quite so fraught.

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There is no hiding from the fraught political environment today, the women say, but still they choose to focus on the resiliency of Black and brown people.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• charged 
• filled www.thesaurus.com
• replete