freight

[freyt]

noun

1. goods, cargo, or lading transported for pay, whether by water, land, or air.

2. the ordinary conveyance or means of transport of goods provided by common carriers (express ).

   Shipping by freight is less expensive.

3. the charges, fee, or compensation paid for such transportation.

   We pay the freight.

   Synonyms: haulage, freightage

4. (especially in Britain) the cargo, or any part of the cargo, of a vessel; merchandise transported by water.

5. Chiefly British.,  transportation of goods by water.

6. freight train.

7. Slang.,  cost or price, especially when high.

   I'd like a larger house, but can't afford the freight.

verb (used with object)

1. to load; burden.

   a story heavily freighted with private meaning.

   Synonyms: charge

2. to load with goods or merchandise for transportation.

   It took all night to freight the ship.

3. to transport as freight; send by freight.

freight

/ freɪt /

noun

1. 1. commercial transport that is slower and cheaper than express

   2. the price charged for such transport

   3. goods transported by this means

   4. ( as modifier )

      freight transport

2. a ship's cargo or part of it

verb

1. to load with goods for transport

2. to convey commercially as or by freight

3. to load or burden; charge

Other Word Forms

• freightless adjective
• overfreight verb (used with object)
• unfreighted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of freight¹

1350–1400; Middle English freyght (noun), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vrecht, variant of vracht. See fraught

Word History and Origins

Origin of freight¹

C16: from Middle Dutch vrecht ; related to French fret , Spanish flete , Portuguese frete

Synonym Study

Freight, cargo, shipment refer to goods being transported from place to place. Freight is the general term for goods transported from one place to another by any means: to send freight from New York to New Orleans. Cargo is the term generally used for goods carried by ship or plane: to send a cargo to Europe. Shipment is a quantity of goods destined for a particular place, no matter how sent: a shipment of potatoes.

Example Sentences

This will be driven by the solid development of freight rates up to mid-August, they say.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

That could increase the chances and magnitude of a freight upcycle, but those changes could take time as “insufficient enforcement resources across a mobile and highly-fragmented industry” won’t make it immediate, the analysts say.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Dave Bozeman faced a lot of skepticism in June 2023 when he was appointed president and CEO of America’s largest freight broker.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Executives have been aiming to move farther west to cut down on freight costs to certain locations and have talked about moving into new food categories such as sushi, pizza and soup.

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Full Truck Alliance, a digital freight platform, continues its steady climb, higher by 24% year to date and offering a 1.1% dividend yield.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• carriage 
• consignment 
• merchandise 
• payload 
• shipment 
• shipping 
• transportation