encumber
verb
Did you know?
Encumber Has French Roots
“I can’t help you with your troubles / If you won’t help with mine,” the workingman protagonist tells his companion Melinda in “Cumberland Blues” (a song by Grateful Dead), encumbered by indecision over whether or not to keep his dead-end job. Does he stay or does he go? To be encumbered is to be held back, weighed down, overburdened. One can be encumbered physically (as by a heavy load or severe weather) or figuratively (as by, well, the blues). Encumber traces back to the Middle French noun combre, which referred to a dam or weir constructed in the bed of a river to hold back fish or protect the banks. The notion of stoppage or blockage embedded in combre led to the verb encombre (“to obstruct, burden”) and further downstream to not only the English verb encumber, but adjectives cumbersome and cumbrous, both used to describe things that can slow one down. (Note, however, that the place name Cumberland—referring originally to a former county of northwestern England and used in many U.S. and Canadian locales—comes not from combre, but rather the Latin designation Cumbria, in turn was influenced by the Welsh Cymry.)
Examples of encumber in a Sentence
Josh Salman, Miami Herald, 13 June 2025
They won’t be encumbered with the obsolescence of traditional Google search or sitting at a terminal.
—John Werner, Forbes.com, 6 June 2025
The volatility has encumbered companies that seek to understand the impact of tariffs and regulation on their business model, Barclays’ Venkatakrishnan said.
—Ruxandra Iordache, CNBC, 22 May 2025
China, as the relative newcomer in the region, is not encumbered by any historical legacy.
—Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for encumber
Cite this Entry
“Encumber.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/encumber. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
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encumber
verb
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