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

Staying true to the myth Her team collaborated with a Staten Island ship and tugboat company to pull off the very complicated logistics, starting with figuring out how to anchor the cargo ship in such a way that the boat wasn’t completely fixed. —ArsTechnica, 13 May 2026

Sun Country also flies cargo for Amazon. —Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 13 May 2026

Powered by 33 of SpaceX's Raptor-class engines, the booster provides the initial burst of thrust at liftoff, while the vehicle is where the crew and cargo would ride in orbit after the stages separate. —Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 13 May 2026

The New Corolla, an oil tanker that traveled through the Strait of Hormuz before heading to California, recently unloaded its cargo in Long Beach. —Angela Rodriguez, Sacbee.com, 13 May 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