encumber
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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“Traditionally, these big changes are something that you grant to the next mayor because you don’t want to necessarily encumber them,” Matute said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
A shark cannot sink the submarine alone, but it can certainly encumber it.
From Slate ● Nov. 20, 2023
"It was a time to really get to know one another with no outside influences to encumber you," Duffy told the outlet.
From Fox News ● Jul. 3, 2021
It would be even more difficult in the District, which pays from current appropriations and cannot encumber future appropriations under current legislation.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 16, 2016
A shocking number of phrases that drop easily from the fingers are bloated with words that encumber the reader without conveying any content.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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“That is expensive, not sustainable and encumbers future generations with further long-term liabilities,” Karsten Smid, an energy expert with the group’s German branch, said in a statement.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2024
By now we all know the basic data about college student loan debt—that it totals more than $1.7 trillion, encumbers around 40 million people at present, and cannot be absolved in bankruptcy.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2021
North Korea’s trade with China plunged more than 80% last year, Chinese customs data has shown, as the isolated country’s strict coronavirus lockdown encumbers an economy already burdened by international sanctions.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 19, 2021
He has said that he wears one when he’s concerned about being respectful, but that a jacket encumbers his political pugilism.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 10, 2020
It’s the way civilized man now encumbers his territory, not with great walls or stretches of wire but with a single well-placed device, a neat bundling with the workings of a mind.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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His house was encumbered with liens and he’d sold a “prop plane” that prosecutors cited when arguing he was a risk to abscond, Maitia said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2025
He gets straight into it on his new record, on an opening track encumbered with the blindingly literal title, "Opening".
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2025
The encumbered amount will probably, but not necessarily, be spent eventually.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2024
But McAfee said that the “prosecution is encumbered by an appearance of impropriety.”
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2024
I myself was encumbered with Judy Poovey and her friends Tracy and Beth.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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Matus is seeking an injunction preventing the three defendants — Goldin Auctions, LLC, and Florida residents Chris Belanski and Kelvin Ramirez — from “transferring, encumbering, selling, or concealing the 50/50 Ball.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2024
Global competition and “innovation” have often been cited as reasons to avoid encumbering tech companies with regulation.
From Slate ● Dec. 28, 2023
Forbes reported on how the influx of returns has encumbering retailers since early 2021.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 28, 2022
Personally, I blame the baggy white t-shirt Mickelson was wearing underneath his polo, the added weight encumbering his movement.
From Golf Digest ● Mar. 25, 2020
Writing, as he did, at and for Paris, there was, indeed, no reason for thus encumbering his book; for in Paris the Veuve Cadart is always ready to supply all the wants of the etcher.
From A Treatise on Etching by Maxime Lalanne
Vocabulary lists containing encumber
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