Encumber

Definition: Encumber

Encumber

Verb

1. Hold back.

Date "encumber" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1386. (references)

Note: Encumber \En*cum"ber\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Encumbered; present participle verb or noun Encumbering.]. (Websters 1913)

Domain	Definitions
Finance	To burden a parcel of land with a lien or a charge such as a mortgage. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Encumber

Synonyms: constrain (v), cumber (v), restrain (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Difficulty	Render difficult; Adjective: enmesh, encumber, embarrass, ravel, entangle; put a spoke in the wheel; (hinder); lead a pretty dance.
Hindrance	Cramp, hamper; clog, clog the wheels; cumber; encumber, incumber; handicap; choke; saddle with, load with; overload, lay; lumber, trammel, tie one's hands, put to inconvenience; incommode, discommode; discompose; hustle, corner, drive into a corner.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Encumber

English words defined with "encumber": Accumber ♦ Bemoil ♦ Encomber, Encumbering ♦ Incomber, Incumber ♦ saddle. (references)

Etymologies containing "encumber": Accumber. (references)

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Andrew Jackson	1829-1837	To extend the circuit courts equally throughout the different parts of the Union, and at the same time to avoid such a multiplication of members as would encumber the supreme appellate tribunal, is the object desired.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Encumber" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Encumber" is used about 4 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	4	175,879

Expressions using "encumber": encumber oneself ♦ encumber with ♦ to encumber. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "encumber"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		rëndoj (aggravate, burden, complicate, cumber, exacerbate, load, weigh, weigh down, weigh on), pengoj (arrest, baffle, balk, baulk, block, clog, cross, cumber, delay, detain, embarrass, estop, foil, forbid, frustrate, get in the way, hamper, handicap, hedge in, hinder, hobble, impede, inhibit, interfere, interfere with, interrupt, jam, keep away from, let, obstruct, occlude, oppose, preclude, prevent, prohibit, resist, set back, shut in, stumble, trammel, traverse, trouble), ngarkoj (attribute, burden, charge, commission, cumber, delegate, entrain, entruck, freight, impose, impute, Lade, load, saddle, ship, weight). (various references)

Arabic		‏عاق (baffle, balk, block, cramp, delay, derange, detain, deter, dirty, discourage, disloyal, disturb, embarrass, estop, handicap, hinder, hobble, hurt, impede, impious, interrupt, penalize, preclude, prevent, retard, set back, shackle, stifle, thankless, thwart, tie up, trammel, trap, undutiful, ungrateful, unthankful), ‏أثقل (burden, charge, clog, cumber, lie, overburden, soak, surcharge, weigh down), ‏أرهق بالديون. (various references)

Bulgarian		тежа на, обременявам (burden, cumber, hamper, load, lumber, overburden, saddle, weigh down, weight, weight down), затрупвам (immerse, overwhelm), затруднявам (beat, complicate, embarrass, hamper, hinder, nonplus, overwhelm, put out, stick, straiten, stump, trouble). (various references)

Chinese		妨碍 (Encumbered, Encumbering, hindrance, impede, impeded, impeding, molest, molested, Molesting). (various references)

Czech		zatížit (load, press, weigh down, weight), obtížit (burden). (various references)

Danish		belaste (to charge, to encumber). (various references)

Dutch		een rente,een hypotheek vestigen op een goed als zekerheid van de betaling (to encumber an estate with an annuity or a mortgage), met schulden belasten (to burden with debts, to charge with debts, to encumber with debts), bezwaren (disorders, disturbances, to charge, to encumber, troubles), belasten (burden, load, loading, tax, to charge, to encumber). (various references)

Farsi		سنگین کردن (Ballast, Gravitate, Load, Weight), اسباب زحمت شدن , بازداشتن (Arrest, Bar, Bloc, Block, Contain, Debar, Detain, Deter, Impede, Interdict, Prevent, Stay, Stow). (various references)

Finnish		rasittaa (burden, strain, weigh down). (various references)

French		encombrer, handicaper. (various references)

German		belasten (afflict, be a burden on, burden, charge, cumcumber, debit, incriminate, load, put a strain on, put pressure on, put weight on, strain, stress, stretch, tax, to burden with debts, to charge, to charge with debts, to encumber, to encumber with debts, to incriminate, to stress, weigh upon). (various references)

Greek		παρεμποδίζω (balk, block, hamper, hobble, inhibit, intercept, trammel), παραφορτώνω (overburden, overload), εμποδίζω (bar, block, clog, cross, cumber, deter, embarrass, hamper, handicap, hinder, impede, keep from, obstruct, preclude, prevent, stunt, stymie, thwart, to catch, to clench, trammel, trig), επιβαρύνω (burden, charge, cumber, tax). (various references)

Hebrew		ל�"כבי�" (aggravate, burden, weigh down), ל�"טיל מעמס�". (various references)

Hungarian		terhel (debit, load, to bother, to encumber, to oppress), meggátol (hinder, impede, inhibit, prevent, to check, to encumber, to hinder, to impede, to incapacitate, to inhibit, to preclude, to stem), akadályoz (antagonize, bar, baulk, counterwork, cumber, hamper, hold, impede, interfere, obstruct, prevent, to clog, to clog up, to cramp, to detain, to discourage, to embarrass, to encumber, to hamper, to hold up, to impede, to incapacitate, to inhibit, to keep from, to put back, to put off, to set back, to thwart, to tie, to traverse, trammel). (various references)

Indonesian		merintangi (debar, embarrass, hamper, hinder, impede, incommode, obstruct). (various references)

Italian		gravare (burden, load, quote, saddle, to charge, to encumber, weigh down). (various references)

Korean		계루하십시�". (various references)

Manx		jannoo lheibeidjagh, cur errey er (charge burden, cumber), cumrail (delay, detain, deter, encumbrance, hindrance, lag, loiter, obstruction, prevent). (various references)

Norwegian		hindre (hamper, hinder, impede, inhibit), hefte. (various references)

Pig Latin		encumberay

Portuguese		entravar (bridle, hinder, restrain), embaraçar (abash, astonish, astound, blur, clog, cumber, derange, detain, dim, disconcert, embarrass, embroil, entangle, ha, hamper, hinder, impede, implicate, puzzle, quiz, straiten, trammel), incrustar (crust, furbelow, imbed, ingraft, inlay), dificultar (complicate, embarrass, hamper, hamper success, hinder, impede, interfere, stickle, thwart), atravancar (block, chock, clutter, lumber, obstruct). (various references)

Romanian		stânjeni (cumber, disturb, embarrass, hamper, hinder, impede, inconvenience, intrude upon, trouble), îngreuia (aggravate, burden, load, obstruct, trouble, weight), încãrca (bedizen, burden, charge, glut, heap, inflate, load, load with ball, pack, pile up, prime), împovãra (burden, cumber, glut, oppress, overload, pack, pile, weigh down, weight), împiedica (arrest, back, balk, baulk, block, brake, check, circumvent, clog, delay, detain, deter, embarrass, forbid, foreclose, hamper, help, hinder, hitch, hobble, hold, hopple, impede, inhibit, intercept, lock, obstruct, prevent, put on the brakes, restrain, shackle, shut out, snag, stay, stop, trammel, withhold). (various references)

Russian		обременять (burden, clog, load, task, weight), затруднять (cumber, discommode, embarrass, hamper, obstruct, trouble), загромождать (clutter up, jam). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		zadužiti (mortgage, obligate), opteretiti (burden, lade, load, saddle, tax). (various references)

Spanish		estorbar (bar, be in the way of, bother, defeat, derange, disturb, fetter, gag, get in the way, guard against, hamper, handicap, hinder, impede, inhibit, interfere with, intrude, keep back, muzzle, obstruct, prevent, thwart, tie, upset), sobrecargarse (overburden, overcharge, surcharge), sobrecargar (load down, overburden, overcharge, overload, overprint, overstress, surcharge, to overstress, weigh down), llenar (beset, complete, cover, crowd, equate, fill, fill in, fill out, fill up, load, make out, occupy, pack, stuff, take up), impedirse (obstruct, preclude, trammel), hacer impedimento, grabar (cut, engrave, engraving, impress, imprint, incise, print, record, tape), cargar (buck, burden, carry, charge, charging, enwrap, fall on, Lade, load, load down, load up, pack, pile up, plough, plow, Stoke, take on, upload, weight). (various references)

Swedish		besvära (ail, annoy, appeal, bother, complain, disoblige, disturb, embarrass, importune, incommode, inconvenience, pester, plague, protest, trouble), belamra (block up, lumber up). (various references)

Turkish		engellemek (balk, bar, baulk, block, circumvent, clamp the lid on smth., clog, counterwork, cramp, Crimp, cross, cumber, dam, dam up, defeat, embarrass, fetter, foil, gum up, hamper, hedge, hedge about, hedge around, hinder, hobble, impede, inhibit, keep down, keep from, obstruct, preclude, prevent from, put the lid on smth., resist, restrain, save, shut out, snag, stem, stymie, surety, trammel), engel olmak (baffle, balk, be in smb.'s road, bind, blanket, clip one's wings, debar, estop, forbid, frustrate, hamper, handicap, hinder, intercept, interfere with, militate against, Nix, obstruct, oppose, prevent, prohibit, put a spoke in smb.'s wheel, put a stay on, put back, put off, scotch, shackle, thwart), yüklemek (ascribe, burden, charge, embark, fasten, fasten on, father, foist, freight, hand over, heap, impose, impute, inflict, Lade, lay, lay on, lay smth. at one's door, load, offload, overlay, pin, pitch, plant, put, put down, saddle, shift, stack, store, weight), tıka basa doldurmak (choke up, clutter, clutter up, cram, glut, gorge, pack, Stoke, tuck away), sorumluluk yüklemek. (various references)

Ukranian		утрудняти (cumber, embarrass), захаращувати (choke, clutter, lumber, obstruct, overcharge). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "encumber": encumbered, encumbering, encumbers. (additional references)
	Words ending with "encumber": disencumber. (additional references)
	Words containing "encumber": disencumbered, disencumbering, disencumbers, unencumbered. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Encumber" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: anumber, Denscombe, Encombe, encombred, encumberd, imcumber, Pencombe. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "encumber" (pronounced enku"mber)
5	-k u" m b er	Cumber.
4	-u" m b er	lumber, number, outnumber, slumber.
3	-m b er	amber, bedchamber, camber, chamber, clamber, cucumber, dismember, Ember, limber, member, misremember, nonmember, remember, somber, timber, timbre.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "b-c-e-e-m-n-r-u"
	-1 letter: cerumen.
	-2 letters: cumber, embrue, number.
	-3 letters: berme, brume, creme, crumb, cuber, ember, enure, neume, rebec, rumen, umber.
	-4 letters: been, beer, bene, berm, bree, bren, burn, cere, cube, curb, cure, curn, ecru, emeu, erne, menu, mere, mure, neem, neum, numb, rube, rune, unbe.
	-5 letters: bee, ben, bum, bun, bur, cee, cub, cue, cum, cur, ecu, eme, emu, ere, ern, men, mun, neb, nee, nub, reb, rec, ree, rem, rub, rue, rum, run, urb, urn.
	Words containing the letters "b-c-e-e-m-n-r-u"
	+1 letter: encumbers, recumbent.
	+2 letters: encumbered, incumbered, recumbency.
	+3 letters: disencumber, encumbering, encumbrance, submergence.
	+4 letters: disencumbers, encumbrancer, encumbrances, recumbencies, submergences, unencumbered.
	+5 letters: commensurable, crumblinesses, disencumbered, encumbrancers, unreclaimable.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.