freight

1 of 2

noun

ˈfrāt 

often attributive

1

a

: the compensation paid for the transportation of goods

b

: cost

help pay the freight

2

a

: goods to be shipped : cargo

The freight arrived by steamboat.

b

: load, burden

The man staggered under a freight of small logs in a basket.

c

: meaning sense 3, significance

words that carry psychological freight, such as "family," "work," and "sex"

3

a

: the ordinary transportation of goods by a common carrier and distinguished from express

b

: a train designed or used for such transportation

an eastbound freight

freight

2 of 2

verb

freighted; freighting; freights

transitive verb

1

a

: to load with goods for transportation

b

: burden, charge

freighted with memories

2

: to transport or ship by freight

Synonyms

Noun

• burden
• cargo
• draft
• haul
• lading
• load
• loading
• payload
• weight

Verb

• burden
• encumber
• lade
• laden
• load
• lumber
• saddle
• weight

Examples of freight in a Sentence

Noun

trains that carry both passengers and freight

The freight arrived by steamboat.

The order was shipped by freight.

Verb

it took six hours to freight the cargo airplane

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Once the vendors are picked, the parts manufactured, and the boxes compiled, the shipping of the games globally can take anywhere from six to eight months, depending on where the vendors are and the freight company that is chosen. —Saira Mueller, CNN, 11 Apr. 2024

And after significant pressure on industry from President Biden, labor unions, and our department, approximately 89% of Class I freight railroad workers now have paid sick days, up from less than 5% around a little more than a year ago. —Pete Buttigieg, TIME, 10 Apr. 2024

The Biden administration on Tuesday required the largest freight railroads to operate their trains with at least two people on board, seeking to improve rail safety with a new mandate that immediately drew stiff industry opposition. —Tony Romm, Washington Post, 2 Apr. 2024

The Federal Railroad Administration's provision establishes a minimum crew size for all railroads, including freight, passenger, and commuter trains, requiring at least two crew members. —Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 2 Apr. 2024

Presuming that the settlement is approved by a federal court, starting in July, sellers will no longer have to pay the entire freight for the transaction, buyers will be able to directly negotiate fees with their agents and those agreements will have to be put in writing. —Jill Schlesinger, The Mercury News, 25 Mar. 2024

Train companies, themselves in a downward spiral of cost cutting and reduced personnel, aren’t doing a very good job of securing their freight. —Bradley Brownell / Jalopnik, Quartz, 23 Mar. 2024

The Grand Caravan has served all over the world with a versatility no other turboprop can match: carting freight for FedEx, military missions, amphibian flights with floats, passenger transport, air ambulances, and delivering humanitarian aid. —Daniel Cote, Robb Report, 7 Mar. 2024

Hundreds of times a year, gargantuan vessels like this one, laden with containers of freight, had eased beneath the Key, bound for open ocean and ports around the globe. —William Wan, Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2024

Verb

This is still life, but freighted with both ideas about the idealized origins of African American art and simultaneous presence and absence of the painter’s body and mind. —Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024

Already struggling to contain intractable crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, the United States is also grappling with an impasse in the Balkans over a gas pipeline into Bosnia, an issue that is freighted with big geopolitical stakes. —Andrew Higgins, New York Times, 22 Feb. 2024

The movie came freighted with exposition, along with lengthy monologues and much stirring oration. —Glenn Whipp, Twin Cities, 28 Jan. 2024

At the same time, the infinity of available emoji has freighted other pictures with occult significance. —Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 18 Jan. 2024

Adam’s silence can seem sweetly companionable one moment and freighted with trauma the next. —Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2023

But right off the bat, the fragmented approach is freighted with a cumbersome framing device. —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

The actual kidnapping doesn’t occur until two-thirds through the film, a narrative decision that both gives us time to understand the rhythms of Umut’s daily life and also freights even the most cheerful early scenes with a sense of gathering dread. —Jessica Kiang, Variety, 11 Oct. 2023

That approach means the movie is freighted with exposition, along with lengthy monologues and much stirring oration. —Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English freghte, freight, freyte, freythe "transport of goods, charge for transportation, cargo of a ship," borrowed from Middle Dutch vrecht "cargo, charge for transport," going back to West Germanic *fraihti-, probably "what is given over or consigned to someone" (whence also Old Frisian fracht, frecht "charge for freight," Middle Low German vracht [vrecht- in vrechtman "consigner of a cargo"], Old High German frêht "reward, recompense") from *fra- "away, off" (going back to Indo-European *pro-) + Germanic *aihti- "property, possession" (whence Old English ǣht "possession, [in plural] property, goods," Old Saxon ēht "property," Old Icelandic ætt, átt "kindred, pedigree," Gothic aihtins [accusative plural] "property"), derivative, with the abstract noun suffix *-ti-, from the base of *aigan "to possess" — more at for entry 1, owe

Note: Compare fraught entry 2 and see note there.

Verb

Middle English freighten, derivative of freghte, freight freight entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing freight

• freight car
• freight train
• pay the freight

Kids Definition

freight

1 of 2 noun

ˈfrāt 

1

: the amount paid (as to a shipping company) for carrying goods

2

a

: goods or cargo carried by ship, train, truck, or airplane

b

: the carrying of goods from one place to another by vehicle

ship the order by freight

3

: a train that carries freight

freight

2 of 2 verb

1

: to load for transportation

2

: to ship by freight