incumbrance

C2+ Topic:Abstract Ideas

US /ɪnˈkʌmbrəns/ UK /ɪnˈkʌmbrəns/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a burden or impediment; a legal claim against property

They bought the land free of any incumbrance or mortgage.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a burden or impediment; a... encumbrance burden impediment hindrance liabilitylien

Word family

Related forms encumbrance encumber cumber

Etymology

A variant of encumbrance, from Old French encombrance ('obstruction'), from encombrer ('to block up'), from Late Latin incombrare, from in- + combrus ('barricade, obstacle').

encombrer Old French combrus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Abstract Ideas

External links

# incumbrance

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ɪnˈkʌmbrəns/
**IPA (UK):** /ɪnˈkʌmbrəns/

## Meanings
1. a burden or impediment; a legal claim against property

## Examples
- They bought the land free of any incumbrance or mortgage.

## Synonyms
- encumbrance
- burden
- impediment
- hindrance
- liability
- lien

## Related Forms
- encumbrance
- encumber
- cumber

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: encombrer
- Root: combrus

## Etymology
A variant of encumbrance, from Old French encombrance ('obstruction'), from encombrer ('to block up'), from Late Latin incombrare, from in- + combrus ('barricade, obstacle').

## AI Etymology
incumbrance has the recorded history: A variant of encumbrance, from Old French encombrance ('obstruction'), from encombrer ('to block up'), from Late Latin incombrare, from in- + combrus ('barricade, obstacle'). Morphologically, the prefixed shape matters: the initial element belongs to the recorded formation and helps explain the modern form's surface analysis. In present English, the noun sense is "a burden or impediment; a legal claim against property", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as encumbrance, encumber, and cumber. Its semantic neighborhood includes encumbrance, burden, impediment, and hindrance, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Old French encombrer and Latin combrus.

## Topics
- Abstract Ideas

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