Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One that encumbers; a burden or impediment.
- noun A lien or claim on property that diminishes its value or affects transfer of ownership but does not prevent such transfer.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of encumbering, or the state of being encumbered.
- noun That which encumbers, burdens, or clogs; anything that impedes action, or renders it difficult and laborious; an obstruction or impediment; an embarrassment.
- noun Specifically In law, a charge or servitude affecting property, which diminishes the value of ownership, or may impair its enjoyment, so as to constitute a qualification or diminution of the rights of ownership.
- noun A family charge or care; especially, a child or a family of children: as, a widow without encumbrance or encumbrances.
- noun Synonyms Burden, check, hindrance, drag, weight, dead weight.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun That which encumbers; a burden which impedes action, or renders it difficult and laborious; a clog; an impediment. See
incumbrance . - noun (Law) Same as
Incumbrance .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Something that
encumbers ; aburden that must becarried . - noun law an
interest ,right ,burden , orliability attached to atitle ofland , such as alien ormortgage .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome
- noun a charge against property (as a lien or mortgage)
- noun an onerous or difficult concern
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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But at this stage Hitler wished to avoid the "encumbrance" of the capital cities, with their huge and hungry populations, and believed that by dividing his strength between the north, where Leningrad was to be
Barbarossa Clark, Alan 1965
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Mrs. Corcoran Dunn's congratulations on riddance from the "encumbrance" shamed her and stilled the reproaches of her conscience.
Cap'n Warren's Wards Joseph Crosby Lincoln 1907
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But pupils are not readily attainable by a heretic woman, away from her natural home, and with a young child as "encumbrance".
Autobiographical Sketches Annie Wood Besant 1890
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Well, my dear father, in the shipwreck of life -- for life is an eternal shipwreck of our hopes -- I cast into the sea my useless encumbrance, that is all, and I remain with my own will, disposed to live perfectly alone, and consequently perfectly free. "
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas p��re 1836
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It is true that Francis's dream of a monastic order that renounced the encumbrance and corruption of property was frustrated by the papacy and by his own successors.
Parallel Lives Jonathan Sumption 2011
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In America, land of the deckle edge, your chances of a pleasant surprise are greater; but the jacket remains an unnecessary and vulnerable encumbrance.
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In most cases, simply getting office floorplates to lay out well for residential units would be a serious encumbrance.
Could Adapting Office Buildings to Residential Work in Seattle? « PubliCola 2010
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If you: make them track encumbrance minutely require them to make a lot of rolls to “wake up” in a campsite combat make them not carry loaded crossbows make them draw their swords in the first round of every combat require lots of skill checks to distinguish their ass from a hole in the ground and other stuff like that
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* Whether there is a patent or other encumbrance that would make it illegal to build a competing device that can read or convert the "DRM-free" files
Boing Boing 2009
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It is true that Francis's dream of a monastic order that renounced the encumbrance and corruption of property was frustrated by the papacy and by his own successors.
Parallel Lives Jonathan Sumption 2011
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