disencumber

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˌdɪsɪnˈkʌmbɚ/ UK /ˌdɪsɪnˈkʌmbə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to free from a burden or encumbrance

Selling the estate disencumbered him of years of debt.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to free from a burden or... unburden relieve free disburden extricate unload

Opposites

encumber burden load hamper weigh

Word family

Derived forms disencumbrance

Related forms encumber cumber encumbrance

Etymology

From dis- ('reversal') + encumber; encumber from Old French encombrer ('to block, obstruct'), from combre ('barrier, obstruction'), likely from Gaulish *comboros ('confluence, dam').

encombrer Old French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# disencumber

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˌdɪsɪnˈkʌmbɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌdɪsɪnˈkʌmbə/

## Meanings
1. to free from a burden or encumbrance

## Examples
- Selling the estate disencumbered him of years of debt.

## Synonyms
- unburden
- relieve
- free
- disburden
- extricate
- unload

## Antonyms
- encumber
- burden
- load
- hamper
- weigh

## Derived Forms
- disencumbrance

## Related Forms
- encumber
- cumber
- encumbrance

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: encombrer

## Etymology
From dis- ('reversal') + encumber; encumber from Old French encombrer ('to block, obstruct'), from combre ('barrier, obstruction'), likely from Gaulish *comboros ('confluence, dam').

## AI Etymology
Disencumber is from dis- ('reversal') + encumber; encumber from Old French encombrer ('to block, obstruct'), from combre ('barrier, obstruction'), likely from Gaulish *comboros ('confluence, dam'). The immediate etymological form is Old French encombrer. The prefix dis- often marks separation, reversal, or negation in Latin and English formations, helping to explain the word's surface structure. In present use as a verb, it means "to free from a burden or encumbrance", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include encumber, cumber, and encumbrance; derived forms include disencumbrance.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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