loaded

From load +‎ -ed.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈloʊdɪd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊdɪd/
• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -əʊdɪd
• Hyphenation: load‧ed

loaded

1. simple past and past participle of load

loaded (comparative more loaded, superlative most loaded)

1. Burdened by some heavy load; packed.

   Synonyms: crammed, laden, packed, stuffed

   Let's leave the TV; the car is loaded already.

   • 1737, The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 7, page 780:

     With regard to France and Holland, therefore, I muſt think, Sir, and it has always been the general Opinion, that the Subjects of each are more loaded and more oppreſſed with Taxes and Exciſes than the People of this Kingdom ;

   • 1812, Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, volume 8, page 118:

     […] the fever began to assume a low type ; the tongue became loaded with a thick brown crust ; […] .

   • 1888, Leonardo Da Vinci, Jean Paul Richter (translator), The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, XIII: Theoretical writings on Architecture,

     […] and for that reason the arches of the vaults of any apse should never be more loaded than the arches of the principal building.

   • 1913, Catholic Encyclopedia, Africa:

     What is known concerning supernatural matters is a sort of common deposit, guarded by everybody, and handed down without any intervention on the part of an authority; fuller in one place, scantier in another, or, again, more loaded with external symbols according to the intelligence, the temperament, the organization, the habits, and the manner of the people's life.

   • 2011, Matt Rogan, Martin Rogan, Britain and the Olympic Games: Past, Present, Legacy, page 15:

     What had traditionally been a morally neutral sport became loaded with a set of Victorian values.

2. (of a projectile weapon) Having a live round of ammunition in the chamber.

   Synonyms: armed, primed

   No funny business; this heater's loaded!

3. (colloquial) Possessing great wealth.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:wealthy

   He sold his business a couple of years ago and is just loaded.

   • 1995, “Common People”, in Jarvis Cocker (lyrics), Different Class, performed by Pulp:

     She told me that her Dad was loaded / I said "In that case, I'll have rum and coca-cola"

   • 2014 October 11, Simon Hattenstone, “Russell Brand: ‘I want to address the alienation and despair’”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Is he loaded? “Yeah!” How much is he worth? “I don’t know, but I could probably never be poor again. When I see stuff in the paper like, ‘Oh, he’s worth £20m quid’, I ain’t worth that much. I don’t know what I’ve done with my money. […] ”

   • 2023 May 8, Nesrine Malik, “The coronation pulled a screen across a desperate, failing nation – just as intended”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     And my God, doesn’t it feel good? For a few moments to think of the country as the place of sacred ointments and special spoons, grand cathedrals and epically wealthy, exquisitely dressed people. In that moment we can see our own country in their image: a country that is sober, benign and loaded.

4. (slang) Drunk.
   • 2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 141:

     ‘Well, I’m loaded right now and I can’t remember where it is right now, tiny country . . . in the west?’

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:drunk

   By the end of the evening, the guests in the club were really loaded.

5. (baseball) Pertaining to a situation where there is a runner at each of the three bases.

   It's bottom of the ninth, the bases are loaded and there are two outs.

6. (dice games, also figurative) Of a die or dice: weighted asymmetrically, and so biased to produce predictable throws.

   Synonyms: fixed, rigged, weighted

   He was playing with loaded dice and won a fortune.

   • 1996, Elaine Creith, Undressing Lesbian Sex, page 49:

     The more we invest in a sexual encounter in a particular person, the more loaded the dice in a dating game that we are forever reminded we must play to win.

   • 1997, Joe Slovo, Slovo: The Unfinished Autobiography, page 80:

     If you add to this the fact that the magistrate and the police sergeant are close friends, then the dice could not have been more loaded against my client.

   • 2009, Michèle Lowrie, Horace: Odes and Epodes, page 224:

     Horace has been crippled by being set off against the 'sincerity' and 'spontaneity' of these two; when it comes to the Greek lyricists, the dice are even more loaded against our poet, for the Greeks have not only spontaneity and sincerity on their side, but a phalanx of yet more formidable allies […] .

7. (of a question) Designed to produce a predictable answer, or to lay a trap.

   Synonym: leading

   That interviewer is tricky; he asks loaded questions.

   • 2017 January 18, Sid Lowe, “Chaos at Mestalla: Valencia's journey from Champions League to utter disarray”, in the Guardian‎^[3]:

     At a press conference held in a Valencia hotel two weeks ago, Jesús “Suso” García Pitarch was asked why Peter Lim had bought the city’s football team in the first place. It was a loaded question, one supporters have pondered often over the last couple of years, and the answer, or the lack of one, felt loaded as well.

8. (of a word or phrase) Having strong connotations that colour the literal meaning and are likely to provoke an emotional response. Sometimes used loosely to describe a word that simply has many different meanings.

   Synonyms: charged, freighted, pregnant

   "Ignorant" is a loaded word, often implying lack of intelligence rather than just lack of knowledge.

   • 2003, L. Susan Bond, Contemporary African American Preaching: Diversity in Theory and Style, page 30:

     The more loaded phrase is the middle one, "she slit his gullet," since it captures a sense of crudeness and suddenness that the other two do not.

10. (of an item offered for sale, especially an automobile) Equipped with numerous options.

    Synonym: deluxe

    She went all out; her new car is loaded.

12. (food, colloquial) Covered with a topping or toppings; especially, covered with all available toppings that are offered as options for the dish.

    loaded fries

    loaded potato wedges

13. Weighted with lead or similar.

    a loaded cane or whip

• deload