UNBURDEN Synonyms: 56 Similar and Opposite Words

unburden

verb

ˌən-ˈbər-dᵊn

Definition of unburden next

as in to unload

to empty or rid of cargo the crew was frantically unburdening the ship in an attempt to save it

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to relieve

to set (a person or thing) free of something that encumbers a generous friend unburdened her of that particular financial worry

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of unburden Yet there’s wisdom amid the silliness, as the story gently makes a case for the necessity of grief, mindfulness and mortal awareness, even in a life otherwise unburdened by adult human responsibility. —

Guy Lodge, Variety, 27 Apr. 2026 Raphael could certainly extract feeling from the architecture of a body and the distribution of its weight, but the majority of his faces, even the most artificially expressive ones, are unburdened by anything like a psychology. —

Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026 Its pastel-colored houses stacked against one another along towering coastal cliffs, a sapphire sea glittering below, have become an emblem for life unburdened by the mundane. —

Heike Blümner, Air Mail, 11 Apr. 2026 Dennehy, unburdened by reverence for the franchise’s hierarchy, channeled that energy without trying. —

Jp Mangalindan, Time, 5 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for unburden

Recent Examples of Synonyms for unburden

Verb

Instead, when the lorries arrived with more beer, the Scots hopped aboard and helped unload the kegs themselves.

— Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 3 June 2026
Down in the pit, on a raw October night in 1966, one of the giant haulers was unloading its tonnage when the pistons of its dump bed seized up.

— Jonathan Franzen, New Yorker, 1 June 2026