encumber
Load down heavily
To encumber is to burden or weigh down, making movement or progress difficult.
A hiker encumbered by a heavy pack moves slowly.
Legal encumbrances are claims against property—liens, mortgages, easements—that restrict what an owner can do with it.
The estate was encumbered with debt.
The word suggests something attached that hampers free action.
To obstruct movement
- hamperObstruct or clothes basket
- obstructBlock or hinder passage
- blockSolid mass, or impede
- inhibitTo restrain or hinder
restrain · constrain · thwart · stymie · slow · delay · retard · handicap
Add heaviness to something
- saddleMounted rider's seat
- loadCarried weight or burden
- overwhelmDefeat by excess
- strainExcessive stretching force
tax · overload · bog down · pressure · albatross · millstone · yoke · onus
Restrict to boundaries
- limitMaximum allowed extent
- bindFasten or obligate
- constrainTo limit or restrict
- tie downFasten to prevent movement
hem in · box in · circumscribe · entangle · ensnare · enmesh · tangle · snarl
Claim securing debt
- mortgageSecured home loan
- claimStatement of ownership or truth
- easementLimited land-use privilege
- cloud on titleUnresolved claim against property
covenant · judgment · attachment · collateral · foreclosure · creditor · indebtedness · arrears
impede
To obstruct movement
inhibit · restrain · constrain · thwart · stymie · slow · delay · retard · handicap · clog
weigh down
Add heaviness to something
strain · tax · overload · bog down · pressure · albatross · millstone · yoke · onus · liability
confine
Restrict to boundaries
tie down · hem in · box in · circumscribe · entangle · ensnare · enmesh · tangle · snarl · complicate
lien
Claim securing debt
cloud on title · covenant · judgment · attachment · collateral · foreclosure · creditor · indebtedness · arrears · charge
weighed down
Made heavy by burden
heavy · bulky · unwieldy · awkward · clunky · ponderous · lumbering · overloaded · packed · stuffed
encumbrance, unencumbered, encumbered, encumbering, disencumber, encumbers, disencumbered