freight
Americannoun
-
goods, cargo, or lading transported for pay, whether by water, land, or air.
-
the ordinary conveyance or means of transport of goods provided by common carriers (distinguished from express).
Shipping by freight is less expensive.
-
the charges, fee, or compensation paid for such transportation.
We pay the freight.
- Synonyms:
- haulage, freightage
-
(especially in Britain) the cargo, or any part of the cargo, of a vessel; merchandise transported by water.
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Chiefly British. transportation of goods by water.
-
Slang. cost or price, especially when high.
I'd like a larger house, but can't afford the freight.
verb (used with object)
-
freights,
present (3rd person singular)
-
freighted,
past participle, past
-
freighting
present participle
-
to load; burden.
a story heavily freighted with private meaning.
- Synonyms:
- charge
-
to load with goods or merchandise for transportation.
It took all night to freight the ship.
-
to transport as freight; send by freight.
noun
-
-
commercial transport that is slower and cheaper than express
-
the price charged for such transport
-
goods transported by this means
-
( as modifier )
freight transport
-
-
a ship's cargo or part of it
verb
-
to load with goods for transport
-
to convey commercially as or by freight
-
to load or burden; charge
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
freightsimple
-
freightssimple
-
have freightedperfect
-
has freightedperfect
-
am freightingprogressive
-
are freightingprogressive
-
is freightingprogressive
-
have been freightingperfect progressive
-
has been freightingperfect progressive
Past
-
freightedsimple
-
had freightedperfect
-
was freightingprogressive
-
were freightingprogressive
-
had been freightingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of freight
1350–1400; Middle English freyght (noun), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German vrecht, variant of vracht. See fraught
Explanation
Like many nouns that can mean an action as well as an actual thing, freight refers to either the sending of goods or the goods themselves. It can also mean the charge for sending goods. You pay freight for the freight of your freight. Freight can also be used as a verb. If you freight a train with goods, you load it up with items to be shipped, and if you freight your furniture to your new home in another state, you send it there. Use freight like this only if you are sending your things a long distance. If you your new apartment is only across town, you would say that you're moving your things to your new place.
Vocabulary lists containing freight
Beowulf vocabulary
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"Chicago" by Carl Sandburg
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Crossing the Wire
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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.
See Examples For:
Conflict in the Middle East has disrupted energy and freight markets, shifted trade flows and widened regional price differentials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Moller-Maersk rose 10% to $14.67 after the Danish freight line raised its full-year growth projections for the second time in recent months, citing higher freight rates and strong demand in Asia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
All it takes to understand how he’s been turning himself into a freight train is seeing his time in the 100 meters on the track team in the spring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
The conspiracy extends to freight, logistics and fuel companies on the U.S. side, authorities say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
At first I thought our train had not come; then I realized that these freight cars standing on the tracks were for us.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
There’s something of a pattern here, one that freights that statement with irony.
From Slate ● Jul. 11, 2023
Although it initially freights our empathy scale to favor Gauthier's side, the story humanizes all parties as it progresses.
From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2022
The sheer cost of her course load freights every school day with expectation.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 8, 2019
Rounders such as Johnson would hop freights if they had no money for a regular ticket.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 24, 2017
Those who are in the interest of these monopolists talk about cheap freights; they argue that railroads can transport freights much cheaper than it can be done over ordinary highways.
From Monopolies and the People by D. C. Cloud
The assertion that Asian Americans and other nonwhite immigrants don’t “assimilate”—a freighted term, to be sure—is both easy and hard to refute.
From Slate ● May 26, 2026
The latest numbers were slightly improved from a previous reading freighted by government shutdown disruptions, but barely.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
Projecting individual meaning onto our favorite shows is a natural result of an emotionally freighted medium.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2025
“This, in 1865, was particularly freighted language,” Lepore observes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2025
I was not just a spouse but the husband of a black woman, a freighted symbol of black love.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
And, he said, growth in freighting has slowed in the years since the pandemic boost, with warehouses seeing higher job vacancy rates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2025
Per the statement from the White House, "Bypassing regular air freighting routes will speed up the importation and distribution of formula and serve as an immediate support as manufacturers continue to ramp up production."
From Salon ● May 18, 2022
One of the islands' main salmon exporters - Hiddenfjord - is also doing its bit, by ceasing the air freighting of its fresh fish.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2021
The company turned briefly to air freighting products to meet demand, but at five or six times the cost of sea freight, it cut into the company’s profits.
From New York Times ● Oct. 31, 2021
My uncle had worked with him over the years when Big Schoolboy ran a freighting business, carrying goods back and forth by horse-drawn wagon between his home in Chinle and Gallup.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
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.
