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 of cargo

• 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

On Tuesday, the crew prepared by packing cargo, reviewing return-to-Earth procedures and transferring hardware aboard the ISS, the agency said. —Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 15 Jan. 2026

At a depth of close to 50m but clearly visible to divers in the blue Antalyan sea was the ship’s cargo, scattered across the seabed. —Literary Hub, 15 Jan. 2026

This is the third flight of the cargo Dragon that will be outfitted with reboost capacity for the International Space Station for the first time. —Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026

An earlier version of this story misstated the death toll in the November crash of a UPS cargo flight. —Pete Muntean, CNN Money, 14 Jan. 2026

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