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
Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025
SailGP is the antithesis of the America’s Cup, a competition encumbered by tradition and complications.
—Andrew Rice, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2025
The initial owner has unlimited control and can sell, give, or encumber the property or terminate the rights of the beneficiary unilaterally.
—Bob Carlson, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025
Leveraging automation to let that cash flow means your company’s strategic objectives aren’t encumbered—and ultimately determined—by inefficient tactical processes.
—Carlos Vega, Forbes.com, 9 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 24 May. 2025.
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encumber
verb
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