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freighter

American  
[frey-ter] / ˈfreɪ tər /

noun

  1. a vessel used mainly for carrying cargo.

  2. a large aircraft or spacecraft used primarily for transporting cargo and equipment.

    The space station of the future will be supplied by robot freighters.

  3. a person whose occupation it is to receive and forward freight.

  4. a person for whom freight is transported; shipper.

freighter British  
/ ˈfreɪtə /

noun

  1. a ship or aircraft designed for transporting cargo

  2. a person concerned with the loading or chartering of a ship

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of freighter

First recorded in 1615–25; freight + -er 1

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.

Consider the March 1942 sinking of the British freighter Induna.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

In one operation about 35 nautical miles from the small island of Gavdos, off Crete, a coastguard vessel, a Danish freighter and a helicopter took 365 people off a fishing boat, according to the agency.

From Barron's • Dec. 26, 2025

After the telegram arrived, instructing him to head to Le Harve, the 19-year-old discovered the only available ship was a freighter packed with army lorries, according to the Royal Navy.

From BBC • Jun. 3, 2024

A seagoing freighter as long as two football fields slammed into a support pier and the bridge connecting Lower Tampa Bay to St. Petersburg.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2024

History’s first aerial bombing and sinking of a ship at sea took place in February 1916, when a German bomber sank a British freighter.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

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.