as in loading
to place a weight or burden on
to the social worker it seemed as though her supervisor had once again saddled her with a truly hopeless case
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Recent Examples of saddling
Audiences didn’t respond to it either, saddling it with a C+ CinemaScore, though the Audience Popcornmeter at Rotten Tomatoes was a bit more generous than the critics, a 73 percent versus the Tomatometer score of 59 percent.
—
Brian Welk, IndieWire, 9 Mar. 2026
Nurses countered that top hospital executives make millions of dollars a year while saddling nurses with unmanageable workloads.
—Philip Marcelo, Fortune, 20 Feb. 2026
Court records from Taste of Belgium’s bankruptcy reveal its sales slumped by nearly a fifth in the last two years, saddling the popular eatery with more than $6 million in debts.
—Alexander Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer, 22 Jan. 2026
In Colorado, Connecticut, and Maine, for example, new laws aim to increase transparency and prevent utilities from saddling customers with questionable costs—such as trade-association membership dues, donations to interest groups, advertising, and legal fees from rate cases.
—Nick Bowlin, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
In an industry generally notorious for denying claims while saddling patients with medical debt, United had a reputation for denying more than most.
—Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 15 Nov. 2025
That risk is driving up the cost of home insurance in the middle of the country, saddling average Americans with huge bills.
—Rebecca Hersher, NPR, 13 Nov. 2025
Once again, Derek Hough was a little bit of a buzzkill, saddling Richter with another 6.
—Katie Campione, Deadline, 21 Oct. 2025
The core cast are forgettable, but the game pulls tricks from older-era Call of Duty titles like Modern Warfare and Black Ops by saddling players with alternating POVs of the events just long enough to learn someone’s name before you’re forced to live out their demise.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 9 Oct. 2025
Brian Welk, IndieWire, 9 Mar. 2026
Nurses countered that top hospital executives make millions of dollars a year while saddling nurses with unmanageable workloads.
—Philip Marcelo, Fortune, 20 Feb. 2026
Court records from Taste of Belgium’s bankruptcy reveal its sales slumped by nearly a fifth in the last two years, saddling the popular eatery with more than $6 million in debts.
—Alexander Coolidge, Cincinnati Enquirer, 22 Jan. 2026
In Colorado, Connecticut, and Maine, for example, new laws aim to increase transparency and prevent utilities from saddling customers with questionable costs—such as trade-association membership dues, donations to interest groups, advertising, and legal fees from rate cases.
—Nick Bowlin, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
In an industry generally notorious for denying claims while saddling patients with medical debt, United had a reputation for denying more than most.
—Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 15 Nov. 2025
That risk is driving up the cost of home insurance in the middle of the country, saddling average Americans with huge bills.
—Rebecca Hersher, NPR, 13 Nov. 2025
Once again, Derek Hough was a little bit of a buzzkill, saddling Richter with another 6.
—Katie Campione, Deadline, 21 Oct. 2025
The core cast are forgettable, but the game pulls tricks from older-era Call of Duty titles like Modern Warfare and Black Ops by saddling players with alternating POVs of the events just long enough to learn someone’s name before you’re forced to live out their demise.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 9 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for saddling
Verb
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Aramco has been redirecting oil cargoes to Red Sea facilities on Saudi Arabia’s west coast to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, with eight supertankers loading from the area this month.—
Christine Burke,
Bloomberg,
8 Mar. 2026
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Yes, blueberries are great, but the key isn’t loading up on a single fruit.—
Lynn Andriani,
Martha Stewart,
7 Mar. 2026
Verb
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True enough, and that’s because lawmakers have insisted on throwing money at problems by burdening Californians with some of the highest taxes in the country.—
Rafael Perez,
Oc Register,
8 Mar. 2026
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Tariffs are taxes burdening the movement of goods while imposing inefficiencies into the marketplace.—
Phillip Molnar,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Even as the Hudson Theatre was still filling up, the star of the Harry Potter movie franchise (and much theater after that) was bobbing and flitting from row to row, exuding equal parts friendliness and determination of purpose.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
13 Mar. 2026
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Even as the Hudson Theatre is still filling up, the star of the Harry Potter movie franchise, and much theater subsequent to that, is already flitting from row to row, exuding equal parts friendliness and determination of purpose.—
Chris Jones,
New York Daily News,
13 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Saddling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/saddling. Accessed 16 Mar. 2026.
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