Encumber
verb
To make someone or something carry or hold a lot of heavy things.
His efforts to learn were encumbered by his lack of previous education.
Often appears as...
- encumber with responsibility
- encumbered by debt
Usage tips
Academic
verb
To restrict or burden in such a way that free action or movement is difficult.
The strict rules encumbered the team from reaching their full potential.
Often appears as...
- encumbered by rules
- encumbered with regulations
Usage tips
Formal
verb
In legal terms, to burden a property by way of a charge or lien.
He encumbered his estate with a series of mortgages.
Often appears as...
- encumbered with mortgages
- encumbered by liens
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
verb
To make someone or something carry or hold a lot of heavy things.
His efforts to learn were encumbered by his lack of previous education.
Often appears as...
- encumber with responsibility
- encumbered by debt
Usage tips
Academic
verb
To restrict or burden in such a way that free action or movement is difficult.
The strict rules encumbered the team from reaching their full potential.
Often appears as...
- encumbered by rules
- encumbered with regulations
Usage tips
Formal
verb
In legal terms, to burden a property by way of a charge or lien.
He encumbered his estate with a series of mortgages.
Often appears as...
- encumbered with mortgages
- encumbered by liens
Usage tips
Formal
Technical
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Burden
Used when actual, heavy items make tasks harder.
Carrying all these books encumbers my walk to class.
Pro Tip 2/3Emotional Weight
Can describe feelings that make actions feel heavier.
She felt encumbered by guilt when she missed the meeting.
Pro Tip 3/3Metaphorical Load
Often used metaphorically for non-physical burdens.
Responsibilities at home can encumber one's focus at work.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Burden
Used when actual, heavy items make tasks harder.
Carrying all these books encumbers my walk to class.
Pro Tip 2/3Emotional Weight
Can describe feelings that make actions feel heavier.
She felt encumbered by guilt when she missed the meeting.
Pro Tip 3/3Metaphorical Load
Often used metaphorically for non-physical burdens.
Responsibilities at home can encumber one's focus at work.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Burden
Used when actual, heavy items make tasks harder.
Carrying all these books encumbers my walk to class.
Pro Tip 2/3Emotional Weight
Can describe feelings that make actions feel heavier.
She felt encumbered by guilt when she missed the meeting.
Pro Tip 3/3Metaphorical Load
Often used metaphorically for non-physical burdens.
Responsibilities at home can encumber one's focus at work.
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Video examples
Kent Larson: Brilliant...
We got rid of all the useless things like engines and transmissions. We moved everything to the wheels, so you have the drive motor, the steering motor, the breaking -- all in the wheel. That left the chassis unencumbered, so you can do things like fold, so you can fold this little vehicle up to occupy a tiny little footprint.
Video examples
What if our healthcare...
million college students in this country unencumbered by clinical responsibilities unwilling to take no from an answer from those bureaucracies that tend to crush patients and with an unparalleled ability for information retrieval honed through years of using
Video examples
Filming Africa’s Top...
and it's important thing to do with animals that they can play out their normal lives without you feeling like you're influencing them. Only then can we really immerse ourselves into their lives and let them just get on with it unencumbered.
Video examples
Kent Larson: Brilliant...
We got rid of all the useless things like engines and transmissions. We moved everything to the wheels, so you have the drive motor, the steering motor, the breaking -- all in the wheel. That left the chassis unencumbered, so you can do things like fold, so you can fold this little vehicle up to occupy a tiny little footprint.
Video examples
What if our healthcare...
million college students in this country unencumbered by clinical responsibilities unwilling to take no from an answer from those bureaucracies that tend to crush patients and with an unparalleled ability for information retrieval honed through years of using
Video examples
Filming Africa’s Top...
and it's important thing to do with animals that they can play out their normal lives without you feeling like you're influencing them. Only then can we really immerse ourselves into their lives and let them just get on with it unencumbered.
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
Lynn Nottage
American Playwright
Ruined' was a play which was somewhat of an anomaly in that I did not take a commission until it was finished because I really wanted to explore the subject matter unencumbered. Otherwise, I felt as though I'd have the voice of dramaturges and literary managers saying, 'This is great, but we'll never be able to produce it.
Quote examples
Erik Prince
American Businessman
The left wants to protect social programs, the right wants to protect defense and intelligence spending and all the rest. I say the defense and intelligence world will be better off with a smaller budget. They would be less encumbered by bloat and able to maneuver the way they used to be able and not trip over themselves.
Quote examples
Barack Obama
American President
In the absence of sound oversight, responsible businesses are forced to compete against unscrupulous and underhanded businesses, who are unencumbered by any restrictions on activities that might harm the environment, or take advantage of middle-class families, or threaten to bring down the entire financial system.
Quote examples
Maria Montessori
Italian Educator
We all know the sense of comfort of which we are conscious when a good half of the floor space in a room is unencumbered; this seems to offer us the agreeable possibility of moving about freely.
Quote examples
Glenn Beck
American Journalist
People should be free, people should be unencumbered by regulation as much as possible, that big government always goes corrupt and the truth shall always set you free.
Quote examples
Robert Collier
American Author
It is your work to clear away the mass of encumbering material of thoughts, so that you may bring into plain view the precious thing at the center of the mass.
Quote examples
Aubrey de Grey
English Author
The biggest handicap in research is an ability to think outside the box. The handicap is being encumbered by all the conventional wisdom in a given field.
Quote examples
A. S. Byatt
English Novelist
The more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free.
Quote examples
Emilio Estevez
American Actor
All the crap that we've encumbered our lives with, it's really meaningless.
Quote examples
Joan Armatrading
St. Kittsian Musician
I've always written in a free, unencumbered way.
Quote examples
Lynn Nottage
American Playwright
Ruined' was a play which was somewhat of an anomaly in that I did not take a commission until it was finished because I really wanted to explore the subject matter unencumbered. Otherwise, I felt as though I'd have the voice of dramaturges and literary managers saying, 'This is great, but we'll never be able to produce it.
Quote examples
Erik Prince
American Businessman
The left wants to protect social programs, the right wants to protect defense and intelligence spending and all the rest. I say the defense and intelligence world will be better off with a smaller budget. They would be less encumbered by bloat and able to maneuver the way they used to be able and not trip over themselves.
Quote examples
Barack Obama
American President
In the absence of sound oversight, responsible businesses are forced to compete against unscrupulous and underhanded businesses, who are unencumbered by any restrictions on activities that might harm the environment, or take advantage of middle-class families, or threaten to bring down the entire financial system.
Quote examples
Maria Montessori
Italian Educator
We all know the sense of comfort of which we are conscious when a good half of the floor space in a room is unencumbered; this seems to offer us the agreeable possibility of moving about freely.
Quote examples
Glenn Beck
American Journalist
People should be free, people should be unencumbered by regulation as much as possible, that big government always goes corrupt and the truth shall always set you free.
Quote examples
Robert Collier
American Author
It is your work to clear away the mass of encumbering material of thoughts, so that you may bring into plain view the precious thing at the center of the mass.
Quote examples
Aubrey de Grey
English Author
The biggest handicap in research is an ability to think outside the box. The handicap is being encumbered by all the conventional wisdom in a given field.
Quote examples
A. S. Byatt
English Novelist
The more research you do, the more at ease you are in the world you're writing about. It doesn't encumber you, it makes you free.
Quote examples
Emilio Estevez
American Actor
All the crap that we've encumbered our lives with, it's really meaningless.
Quote examples
Joan Armatrading
St. Kittsian Musician
I've always written in a free, unencumbered way.
Example 1 of 10
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