encumber
verb
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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.)
Synonyms
Examples of encumber in a Sentence
James Factora, Them, 1 Nov. 2024
Sales leaders said they’re encumbered by long quotation processes driven by a need to dig up relevant information (67 percent), while 33 percent said poor collaboration and communication between procurement and engineering leads to delays.
—Kate Nishimura, Sourcing Journal, 3 Sep. 2019
Food destinations in the West Loop, River North and much of the city aren’t encumbered by the restrictions.
—Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2024
The company claimed Lisa Marie borrowed $3.8 million and gave them a deed of trust encumbering Graceland as security prior to her 2023 death.
—Angel Saunders, Peoplemag, 27 June 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Encumber.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/encumber. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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encumber
verb
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