Fraught means filled with or loaded up with something, usually something difficult or unpleasant. When a situation is fraught with danger, it's packed full of hazards at every turn. A conversation might be fraught with tension when everyone feels uncomfortable and worried about saying the wrong thing.

The word often appears with “with”: a hiking trail could be fraught with obstacles, or a friendship might become fraught with misunderstandings. Sometimes people use fraught by itself to mean tense or stressful: “The atmosphere in the classroom was fraught as students waited for test results.”

Think of fraught like a backpack crammed so full of heavy rocks that it's hard to carry. A decision might be fraught with consequences, meaning every choice leads to complicated results. A school election could become fraught with drama when candidates start arguing and taking sides.

The word captures that feeling when something seems loaded down with problems or stress. If your morning is fraught with delays, everything that could go wrong does: you miss the bus, forget your homework, and spill juice on your shirt. Fraught tells us that whatever is happening is thoroughly packed with trouble, affecting multiple aspects of the situation at once.