What does "freight" mean?
The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.
Freight
/fɹeɪt/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.
- Grammar: freight is listed as adj, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: cargo, load, air express, air-express.
- Useful contrasts: discharge, free of charge, no charge.
- Usage evidence: The locomotive was pulling a long line of freight cars.
How to use "freight"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "freight" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "freight" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "freight" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "freight" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "freight" is acting as adj, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "cargo" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "freight", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation. uncountable, usually
"[A]fter ſome Conſideration, that the City of Hamburgh might happen to be as good a Market for our Goods as London, we all took Freight with him, and having put my Goods on board, it was moſt natural for me to put my Steward on board to take care of them, […]"
- 2 transporting goods commercially at rates cheaper than express rates wordnet
- 3 Goods or items in transport; cargo, luggage. uncountable, usually
"The freight shifted and the trailer turned over on the highway."
- 4 goods carried by a large vehicle wordnet
- 5 Payment for transportation. countable, usually
"The freight was more expensive for cars than for coal."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 the charge for transporting something by common carrier wordnet
- 7 A burden, a load. countable, figuratively, usually
"Thus Apple Trees, whoſe Trunks are ſtrong to bear Their ſpreading Boughs, exert themſelves in Air: Want no supply, but ſtand ſecure alone, Not truſting foreign Forces, but their own: 'Till with the ruddy freight the bending Branches groan."
- 8 Cultural or emotional associations. figuratively, specifically, uncountable, usually
"Ideally, those engaged in contributing to that discourse would have some awareness of the emotional forces which may be called into play by the simple appearance in print or a broadcast clip of a phrase built around the word 'freedom'. This may seem to be a quite unrealistic aim, until we note that some contributors to the emotional public sphere – advertising creatives – are very aware of the emotional freight that simple words may carry, and seek to direct that freight to particular destinations (with particular behavioural consequences)."
- 9 Ellipsis of freight train. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, usually
"They shipped it ordinary freight to spare the expense."
Verb
- 1 To load (a vehicle or vessel) with freight (cargo); also, to hire or rent out (a vehicle or vessel) to carry cargo or passengers. transitive
"It is true, there be few Merchants, that with the Merchandiſe they buy at home, can fraight a Ship, to export it; or with that they buy abroad, to bring it home; and have therefore need to joyn together in one Society; […]"
- 2 load with goods for transportation wordnet
- 3 To transport (goods). transitive
- 4 transport commercially as cargo wordnet
- 5 To load or store (goods, etc.). broadly, transitive
"[W]hat though it is thou [i.e., sensibility] that rendereſt anguiſh more frequent, that filleſt the eye with the ſympathetic tear! yet is it not thou that ſwelleſt it with the tear of joy, and freighteſt the heart beyond the power of utterance,— […]"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To carry (something) as if it is a burden or load. figuratively, transitive
- 7 Chiefly followed by up: to carry as part of a cargo. US, also, figuratively, intransitive
"How often, when those hopes are greatest, The bark that bears them must not be Trusted with more than what thou freightest For sun-lit hour and summer sea: Who, when the waves are high and dark, Could steer, if freighted deep, such bark?"
Adjective
- 1 Freighted; laden. obsolete
"[H]is ſouldiers, ſeeing great prizes brought out of the enemies Land, and every ſhip freight therewith; were mightily incenſed and ſet on fire with a burning deſire to be tranſported over thither with all ſpeed poſſible."
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"The locomotive was pulling a long line of freight cars."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "freight"?
Common synonyms include: cargo, load, air express, air-express, airfreight, airlift.
How do you use "freight" in a sentence?
The locomotive was pulling a long line of freight cars.
How do you pronounce "freight"?
Pronounced /fɹeɪt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Late Middle English freight, freght, freyght [and other forms], a variant of fraught, fraght (“transport of goods or people, usually by water; transportation fee; transportation facilities; cargo or passengers of a ship; (figuratively) burden; ballast of a ship; goods; a charge”), from Middle Dutch vracht, vrecht, and Middle Low German vrecht (“cargo, freight; transportation fee”), from Old Saxon frāht, frēht, from Proto-West Germanic *fra- (from Proto-Germanic *fra- (prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’)) + *aihti (from Proto-Germanic *aihtiz (“possessions, property”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to come into possession of, obtain; to own, possess”)). The English word can be analysed as for- + aught, and is a doublet of fraught. Cognates * French fret (“cargo, freight; transportation fees; rental of a ship”) * Old English ǣht (“livestock; possession, property; power”) * Old High German frēht (“earnings”) * Portuguese frete (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”) * Spanish flete (“cargo, freight; charter (hire of a vehicle for transporting cargo)”) * Swedish frakt c (“cargo, freight; transportation fees”)
Etymology 2
The verb is derived from Late Middle English freighten, freghten, a variant of fraughten, fraghten (“to load (a ship with cargo or passengers); to hire (a ship) for transporting goods; to provide fully (with goods, money, etc.); to stow away”), and then either: * from fraught, fraght (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive form of verbs); or * from Middle Dutch vrachten, vrechten (“to load (a ship with cargo or passengers); to hire (a ship) for transporting goods, to fraught”), from vracht, vrecht (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive form of verbs). The adjective is: * derived from Middle English freght, freight, freyght, the past participle of fraughten (verb) (see above); and/or * a contraction of freighted, the past participle of the verb.