fraught
Americanadjective
-
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.
-
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.
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Archaic. filled or laden.
ships fraught with precious wares.
noun
adjective
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filled or charged; attended
a venture fraught with peril
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informal showing or producing tension or anxiety
she looks rather fraught
a fraught situation
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archaic freighted
noun
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing fraught
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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.
The gaming community has developed a “very, very fraught relationship with AI, and it’s not getting better,” according to Togelius.
From MarketWatch • May 23, 2026
From the start, there were reasons to feel like Hamilton’s tenure was fraught.
From Slate • May 21, 2026
The budgetary equation is all the more fraught because inflation is likely to push central banks to raise their benchmark rates, which underpin all interest rates, Juvyns said.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
Things are considerably less fraught, noisy and wildly unpredictable than they were last week.
From BBC • May 19, 2026
They lamented and tore their hair, the priests, as fraught and rhetorical as they were when they prayed, and after a few days their outcries made people uneasy.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
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.
