laden

1 of 2

adjective

lad·​en ˈlā-dᵊn How to pronounce laden (audio)
: carrying a load or burden

laden

2 of 2

verb

ladened; ladening ˈlād-niŋ How to pronounce laden (audio)
ˈlā-dᵊn-iŋ

transitive verb

: lade
heavily ladened with equipmentIsabel M. Lewis

Did you know?

Something that is laden seems to be, or actually is, weighed down by the large amount of whatever it’s carrying: tree branches laden with fruit bend toward the ground; newspaper articles laden with technical jargon are hard to read; and sugar-laden cereal is very, very sweet. Laden has been used as an adjective to describe heavily loaded things for a millennium, but its source is an even older verb: lade, meaning primarily "to load something." Lade today mostly occurs in contexts relating to shipping; its related noun lading may be familiar from the phrase bill of lading, which refers to a document listing goods to be shipped and the terms of their transport. Laden is itself sometimes used as a verb meaning "to load something" (as in "ladening the truck with equipment"), and an adjectival form of that word sometimes appears too, as in "a truck ladened with equipment." Plain old laden is preferred in such cases though: "a truck laden with equipment."

Examples of laden in a Sentence

Verb laden a ship with emergency medical supplies
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Support for nuclear power has only slowly recovered 13 years after a tsunami triggered the triple meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi atomic plant, which is still laden with tens of billions of dollars in clean-up costs. Jonathan Tirone, Bloomberg.com, 8 Mar. 2024 The flowering dogwood trees are unique in that the blooms are so dense that the trees appear to be laden with a heavy coat of pink and white flowers. Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 8 Mar. 2024 Diaz’s performance is laden with social-media-influencer artifice (not helped by his character’s tendency toward on-camera confessionals that don’t feel too different from Instagram Live posts). Robyn Bahr, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Mar. 2024 Most of the commercials were laden with big-name celebrities, such as the State Farm Insurance spot with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times, 13 Feb. 2024 Taylor Swift's Super Bowl 2024 look was laden with sweet nods to her Kansas City Chiefs star boyfriend Travis Kelce. Brittany Talarico, Peoplemag, 12 Feb. 2024 However, risk assessments without a foundational framework lend themselves to outcomes laden with point solutions to mitigate very specific risks, as opposed to identifying more impactful controls with strategic and organizational alignment. Randy Watkins, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024 Instead, they have become tangled up in massive Russian defensive zones laden with mines. Anna Mulrine Grobe, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Feb. 2024 Alleged racially derogatory acts and comments A July 2020 promotion as general manager of the Lawyers Road Bojangles location was a ticket out of limbo, according to court documents, and into a worse situation laden with regular racist remarks. Julia Coin, Charlotte Observer, 6 Feb. 2024
Verb
The retailers’ graveyard is filled with once-proud brands, from upscale department store chain Lord & Taylor to RadioShack to Toys ‘R’ Us to Payless Shoes, all of which were forced into bankruptcy and closure due to the unaffordable debt that private equity owners ladened onto their balance sheets. Chris Isidore, CNN, 27 Feb. 2024 Now, she’s coupled her truly extraordinary physical talent with a thriving music career, creating dynamic music videos laden with dance breaks reminiscent of a young Britney’s. Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 25 Jan. 2024 There are pieces ladened with logos, perfect for showing off at a casual cocktail party. Michael Loré, Robb Report, 30 Nov. 2023 The interview seemed straightforward until a rogue comment unknowingly ladened with micro-aggressions brought everything to a halt. Kyle Lamar Rice, Rolling Stone, 4 Aug. 2023 But that context — including who shouts the phrase and who studiously avoids uttering it — has ladened it with pernicious meaning in particular quarters. Max Fisher, New York Times, 16 June 2016

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'laden.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

see lade

Verb

see lade

First Known Use

Adjective

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1514, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of laden was before the 12th century

Podcast

Dictionary Entries Near laden

Cite this Entry

“Laden.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/laden. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

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