I always thought fraught meant 'filled (with something negative)', as in 'fraught with danger' or 'fraught with peril'. (Come to think of it, those are the only phrases in which I've seen the word.)

But now I find fraught without the with after it. From the paper: "Ambassador John Bolton has been hacking a path toward United Nations reform - an effort about as fraugt as [simile follows]. I see by the dictionary that fraught can also mean 'marked by or causing distress', without the 'with'.

Is that an unfamiliar usage to others, as it is to me?

Yes

I had not heard this usage before. Looked into the etymology of fraught, and it is interesting. From the Dutch vracht 'cargo of ship'. This is the primary meaning given in the OED1, but it seems now to be obsolete. The secondary meaning with with is given, but not the other one. This word is related to English freight and French fret. Makes sense to say that something is filled, or laden, with danger, but I wonder if the similarity in form to fright added to this?

quote:

I wonder if the similarity in form to fright added to this?

Maybe, zmj. Fraught sounds like an irregular past participle (like taught). A variation on frightened, perhaps?

Fraught, the past participle of the obsolete verb, fraught (OED Online), can also mean "distressed, distressing".

Here are entries from the AHD and the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Tinman

Tinman, you're good! So it's possible to fret over frought freight?