freight
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The transportation of goods.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fraytIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɹeɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
uncountable
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
Goods or items in transport; cargo, luggage.
countable
Payment for transportation.
figurativelycountable
A burden, a load.
verb
transitive
To load (a vehicle or vessel) with freight (cargo); also, to hire or rent out (a vehicle or vessel) to carry cargo or passengers.
Transport commercially as cargo
Load with goods for transportation
transitiveby extension
To load or store (goods, etc.).
transitivefiguratively
To carry (something) as if it is a burden or load.
intransitiveusalso figuratively
Chiefly followed by up: to carry as part of a cargo.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The transportation of goods (originally by water; now also (chiefly US) by land); also, the hiring of a vehicle or vessel for such transportation.
Used this way, freight is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a nautical use: it is standard at sea and largely unfamiliar ashore.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Sailing/maritime
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- freightage , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use freight
- “The train carried a lot of heavy freight across the country.”
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.