encumbrance

[ en-kuhm-bruhns ]

noun

1. something that encumbers; something burdensome, useless, or superfluous; burden; hindrance:

   Poverty was a lifelong encumbrance.

2. a dependent person, especially a child.
3. Law. a burden or claim on property, as a mortgage.

encumbrance

/ ɪnˈkʌmbrəns /

noun

1. a thing that impedes or is burdensome; hindrance
2. law a burden or charge upon property, such as a mortgage or lien
3. rare.
   a dependent person, esp a child

Word History and Origins

Origin of encumbrance¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English encombraunce, from Middle French encumbrance; encumber, -ance

Example Sentences

So I would say it’s potentially a significant encumbrance to doing business.

From Time

Often, those restrictions will more heavily constrain Democratic voters for whom added bureaucracy is a more challenging encumbrance.

From Washington Post

For developers this is both incredibly freeing — a chance to make it big without all the encumbrance of a traditional studio — but also supremely precarious.

From Washington Post

He points to the hassles of regulatory compliance and warding off hacks as an unnecessary encumbrance on businesses.

From Fortune

In LA, Don is an outsider; a Madison Avenue interloper; an encumbrance.

From The Daily Beast

Dangerfield was no longer conscious of anything but an angry determination to revolt, to be free of all encumbrance.

From Project Gutenberg

The cargo of the sloop hoisted on to the deck by the capstan, compact as he had made it, was an encumbrance.

From Project Gutenberg

So desperate had been the charge that our little craft was now actually a serious encumbrance to the monster.

From Project Gutenberg

An' sell Bruno; he's a vicious brute—nothin' but an encumbrance.

From Project Gutenberg

They set to work together to remove the irons, and his legs were at length freed from this encumbrance at about five oclock.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• burden