fraught

American  

[frawt] / frɔt /

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.

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noun

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

fraught British  

/ 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

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noun

1. an obsolete word for freight

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”; see freight

Explanation

Fraught means filled with something — often something bad. Your Thanksgiving was fraught with awkward moments when your family saw your blue hair, and it only got worse when you told them you'd quit law school to join the circus. Fraught is related to the word freight, and comes from the Middle English fraughten, meaning "to load with cargo." Think of a cargo ship loaded up with freight for a journey — it's full of supplies, just like Thanksgiving was filled with — or fraught with — awkward moments. Fraught can also describe a situation filled with distress. If relations between two countries are fraught, they are not getting along with each other.

Example Sentences

Such tumult gives us a chance to consider how our nation has faced—and survived—more fraught times than our own.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 3, 2026

What’s Next: Oil prices were falling to start the week but they remain volatile as tensions between the U.S. and Iran appear fraught.

From Barron's • Jun. 22, 2026

It comes at a fraught time in the UK following multiple instances of disorder and unrest.

From BBC • Jun. 21, 2026

But for most people in most of the world, as I’ve written previously, it’s time to move on from eight tormented decades of an increasingly fraught love-hate relationship with America.

From Salon • Jun. 21, 2026

“The problem of where to concentrate Dr. Urey’s energy is still unsolved,” Colonel Nichols scribbled in his notes after a fraught meeting over K-25.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Related Words

• charged
• filled
• replete