freight train
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of freight train
First recorded in 1835–45
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.
A line outside a Riverside gas station crossed a railroad track, and a man stopped on the tracks refused to yield his place even when a freight train engine bore down on him.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
It felt like a freight train coming at you.
From Barron's • Feb. 14, 2026
But when a freight train stalled at a key intersection in the middle of the city, they found themselves stuck on the wrong side of the street for nearly 30 minutes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 20, 2025
I don’t want to step in front of a freight train and play mean reversion at the same time that something’s exploding.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 17, 2025
Mama trying to get Father to back off was like a daffodil standing in the path of a freight train.
From "The Rock and the River" by Kekla Magoon
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.
