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. 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 Word Forms

• interwrought adjective
• self-wrought adjective
• superwrought adjective
• underwrought adjective
• unwrought 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

This well-established close-knit nature of the group’s DNA is why the rollout for “Double Infinity” has been surprisingly wrought, at least by Big Thief’s standards.

From Los Angeles Times

As a filmmaker—one with carefully wrought ideas and a genuine cinematic palette—Redford lobbied for various environmental causes onscreen and off, including American Indian rights, offshore oil drilling and global warming.

From Los Angeles Times

And there are many still living with psychological damage wrought by the stadium crush.

From BBC

It would be decades, however, before the FBI itself offered anything close to an apology, let alone any effort to repair the carnage it had wrought.

From Salon

That moral collapse would be evident in the devastation wrought upon the German cities of Hamburg and Dresden, as well as in the similar destruction inflicted by the firebombing of Tokyo and other Japanese cities.

From Salon