cargo

noun

car·​go ˈkär-(ˌ)gō 

plural cargoes or cargos

: the goods or merchandise conveyed in a ship, airplane, or vehicle : freight

Dock workers were unloading the ship's cargo.

Synonyms

• payload
• burden
• loading
• load
• freight

Examples of cargo in a Sentence

The ship was carrying a cargo of crude oil.

we put all of our cargo on the pack animals and began our journey through the canyon

Recent Examples on the Web

The ferrying cargo ships became high-value targets themselves. —Craig Hooper, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025

Amazon's contract for 38 Vulcan launches—six Vulcan flights reserved by Sierra Space for its Dream Chaser cargo vehicle, and the 13 remaining Atlas Vs—bring ULA's potential order book to approximately 100 missions. —Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 13 Aug. 2025

The official synopsis for Alien: Earth episode one reads: The team returns home with unexpected cargo. —Billie Melissa, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Aug. 2025

From cargo jeans and long shorts to wrap skirts and pleated skirts styled over jeans, the club-ready denim was tinted, overdyed, spliced and undone. —Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 13 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Spanish, load, charge, from cargar to load, from Late Latin carricare — more at charge entry 1

First Known Use

1657, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing cargo

• cargo cult
• cargo pants
• cargo pocket

Rhymes for cargo

• acknow
• aglow
• ago
• airglow
• aloe
• altho
• although
• ammo
• backflow
• backhoe
• banjo
• barbeau

Kids Definition

cargo

noun

car·​go ˈkär-ˌgō 

plural cargoes or cargos

: the goods transported in a ship, airplane, or vehicle : freight