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Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Fraught



Tim from Old Mission Peninsula asked about the word fraught. It is often used in an ominous sense: fraught with danger or fraught with anxiety. On the other hand, a situation can be fraught with possibilities.

The word is related to freight, and it shows up in a maritime context. Freight is the cargo assigned to a ship. Thus, the word fraught is equivalent to loaded with or full of.

Earlier on, fraught was used as a noun meaning a burden or load, based on the cargo of a ship, and as a verb meaning to store or convey. In our day, we are left with the adjective form.


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