fraught
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɹɔːt/
ipa: /fɹɔt/
ipa: /fɹɑt/
homophone: frot (cot–caught merger)
rhymes: -ɔːt
Forms: form: more fraught
form: fraughter
form: most fraught
form: fraughtest
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English fraughten, fraghten, freghten (“to hire (a ship, etc.) for transporting goods; to load (a ship, etc.) with cargo or passengers; to store, stow away; (figurative) to provide an ample supply of (goods, income, etc.)”), from Middle Dutch vrachten, vrechten, from vracht, vrecht (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming infinitives of verbs).
The adjective is derived from Middle English fraught, fraght (“burdened, loaded”), the past participle of fraughten, fraghten (verb) (see above).
Senses: examples: text: The ſhippes retyre with riches full yfraught, […]
ref: 1576, George Gascoigne, “The Fruites of Warre, Written vppon This Theame, Dulce Bellum Inexpertis, […]”, in The Posies of George Gascoigne Esquire. […], London: […] H[enry] Bynneman for Richard Smith, […], →OCLC, stanza 107, page cxxxvj:
text: Theſe Shippes were fraught with men and women, and had to theyr Captayne one called Bartholoin or Partholin.
ref: 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Englande”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC, page 28, column 1:
text: [I]n the narrovv ſeas that part / The French and Engliſh, there miſcarried / A veſſel of our country richly fraught; […]
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene viii], signature [D4], verso:
text: Of all the Paſſions that poſſeſs Mankind, / The Love of Novelty rules moſt the Mind, / In ſearch of this from Realm to Realm vve roam, / Our Fleets come fraught vvith every Folly home.
ref: 1756 February 3 (first performance), Samuel Foote, “Prologue, Spoken by Mr. Foote”, in The Englishman Return’d from Paris, Being the Sequel to The Englishman in Paris. A Farce […], London: […] Paul Vaillant, […], published 1756, →OCLC, page [5]:
text: The peasant without fear shall guide / Down smooth canal or river wide / His painted bark of cane, / Fraught, for some proud bazaar's arcades, / With chestnuts from his native shades, / And wine, and milk, and grain.
ref: 1827, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “[Miscellaneous Poems, Inscriptions, etc.] The Marriage of Tirzah and Ahirad.”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC, page 446:
topics: nautical
transport
synonyms: freighted
antonyms: unfraught
unfreighted
glosses: Of a boat, ship, or other vessel: laden with cargo.
examples: text: [O]ne the other fiercely did encounter, / Like Lions two yfraught with boyling wrath, […]
ref: 1566, Euripides, “Iocasta: A Tragedie Written in Greke by Euripides, […]”, in George Gascoigne, Francis Kinwelmershe, transl., A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres Bounde up in One Small Poesie. […], London: […] [Henry Bynneman and Henry Middleton for] Richarde Smith, published 1573, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, page 148:
text: Fayre boſome fraught vvith vertues richeſt treſure, / The neaſt of loue, the lodging of delight: / the bovvre of bliſſe, the paradice of pleaſure, / the ſacred harbour of that heuenly ſpright.
ref: 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet LXXVI”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, signature [E7], recto:
text: In this Chapter vve have a large Diſcourſe from the great Preacher of Righteouſneſs; A Diſcourſe fraught vvith all the commending Excellencies of Speech; […]
ref: 1660 August 8 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar); first published 1715, Robert South, “A Discourse Preached at St. Mary’s Church in Oxon, before the University, on the 29th of July 1660, being the Time of the King’s Commissioners Meeting there, soon after the Restauration, for the Visitation of that University”, in Twelve Sermons Preached at Several Times, and upon Several Occasions, volume IV, London: […] G. James, for Jonah Bowyer […], →OCLC, page 3:
text: Liberty, fraught vvith bleſſings as it is, vvhen unabuſed, has, perhaps been abuſed to our deſtruction.
ref: 1755, [Edward Young], “Letter V. The Conclusion.”, in The Centaur Not Fabulous. […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar […]; [a]nd R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 367:
text: That which promised happiness when we were one in heart, is fraught with misery now that we are two.
ref: 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 66:
text: The government and the legislature, each in its own sphere, is deeply responsible for the continuance of a state of things which is fraught with danger to the State.
ref: 1844 February 19 (date delivered), [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “[Speeches.] A Speech Delivered in the House of Commons on the 19th of February 1844.”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC, page 658:
text: He is a man of the meditative claſs:—he walks the ſtreets abſtractedly:—as he goes he digeſts enterpriſes, fraught with world-wide benefits.
ref: 1860, Isaac Taylor, “Essay V. Epidemic Whims.”, in Ultimate Civilization and Other Essays, London: Bell and Daldy […], →OCLC, section I, page 257:
text: The simplest action was fraught with danger, and could only be accomplished with the aid of talismans and counter-spells, and people lived in constant dread of the unknown.
ref: 1936, Rollo Ahmed, “The Earliest Records of Black Magic”, in The Black Art, London: Senate, Studio Editions, published 1994, →ISBN, part I, page 22:
antonyms: unfraught
synonyms: rife
glosses: Followed by with: carrying, or charged or loaded up with (usually something negative); accompanied by; entailing.
examples: text: a fraught relationship    a fraught process
text: Nor less her son the like encouraged she / To party bitterness, that was in her, / Ev'n of the fraughtest growth that well could be, / Surpassing most of men's, […]
ref: 1878, Benj[amin] G. Herre, “Wyman’s Ordeal. A Partisan Tale.”, in Eratics: Or, Love Stories, Lancaster, Pa.: Jno. [Jon.?] H. Pearsol, […], →OCLC, scene iii, stanza XXI, page 180:
text: In all of those respects it was a vocabulary that accommodated within itself (so to speak) the fraught transition from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft, or 'community' to 'society'. This transition was only made fraughter for contemporaries – and muddier for historians – by the politicization of commonwealth after 1640 and its sequestration by ideologues and partisans.
ref: 2010, Philip Withington, “The Rise and Fall of ‘Commonwealth’”, in Society in Early Modern England: The Vernacular Origins of Some Powerful Ideas, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; Malden, Mass.: Polity Press, →ISBN, part II (Keywords), page 166:
text: But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low. With [Oscar] Pistorius, that task is fraught.
ref: 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner’s punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, page S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport section), London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 Nov 2023:
text: Installing lift shafts in station buildings which were not originally designed to accommodate them can be a fraught exercise, but a necessary one if the legitimate aspiration of the travelling public for step-free access is to be achieved. At Sudbury Hill, on London Underground's Piccadilly Line extension out to the north-western suburbs, Transport for London has achieved this with aplomb.
ref: 2022 December 14, Robin Leleux, “A Royal Occasion as Heritage Projects Honoured: Sudbury Hill”, in Rail, number 972, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 57:
antonyms: unfraught
synonyms: wrought-up
glosses: Carrying or loaded with anxiety, fear, or stress, for example, due to complexity or difficulty; distressed; also, causing distress; distressing.
examples: text: [W]hen the worlde is fraughted with ſo manye varlettes, that it will be a long time ere a man ſhall diſcerne the faythful from the Hipocrites.
ref: [1574, Augustine Marlorate [i.e., Augustin Marlorat], “[Revelation 2:2]”, in Arthur Golding, transl., A Catholike Exposition vpon the Reuelation of Sainct Iohn. […], London: […] H[enry] Binneman, for L[ucas] Harison, and G[eorge] Bishop, →OCLC, folio 32, recto:
text: Hovv vvondrouſly vvould he her face commend, / Aboue that Idole of his fayning thought, / That all the vvorld ſhold vvith his rimes be fraught?
ref: 1596, Edm[und] Spenser, “An Hymne of Heavenly Beautie”, in Fowre Hymnes, London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 43:
text: Come ſir, I vvould you vvould make vſe of that good vviſedome vvhereof I knovv you are fraught, and put avvay theſe diſpoſitions, that of late tranſforme you from vvhat you rightly are.
ref: c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], signature D, verso:
text: So, in naturall Hiſtorie, vvee ſee there hath not beene that choiſe and iudgement vſed, as ought to haue beene, as may appeare in the vvritings of Plinius, Cardanus, Albertus, and diuers of the Arabians, being fraught vvith much fabulous matter, a great part, not onely vntryed, but notoriouſly vntrue, to the great derogation of the credite of naturall Philoſophie, […]
ref: 1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC, folios 21, verso – 22, recto:
text: Mules after theſe, Camels and Dromedaries, / And VVaggons fraught vvith Utenſils of vvar.
ref: 1671, John Milton, “The Third Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 72, lines 334–335:
text: The firſt Ingredient, tovvards the Art of Canting, is a competent Share of Invvard Light: that is to ſay, a large Memory, plentifully fraught vvith Theological Polyſyllables, and myſterious Texts from holy VVrit, applied and digeſted by thoſe Methods, and Mechanical Operations already related: […]
ref: 1704, [Jonathan Swift], “A Discourse Concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit. In a Letter to a Friend. A Fragment.. Sect[ion] II.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], published 1705, →OCLC, page 307:
text: The desert Pelican had built her nest / In that deep solitude. / And now returned from distant flight / Fraught with the river stream, / Her load of water had disburthened there. / Her young in the refreshing bath / Sported all wantonness; […]
ref: 1801, Robert Southey, “The Fifth Book”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume I, London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC, pages 258–259:
antonyms: unfraught
synonyms: equipped
supplied
glosses: Followed by with: furnished, provided.
Derived terms: word: fatefraught
word: fate-fraught
word: full-fraught
word: overfraught
word: unfraught