encumber

“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

The next sequels, I suspect, will give them more time for that, but may also encumber them with more baggage.

From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2022

"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

“Are we going to encumber the writer, when we are here to serve the writer?”

From Washington Post ● Jul. 16, 2019

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

“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

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

Granted, we had a few clients who had real, provable needs for this kind of certification; people who, like Iris, experienced a grave loss or were visibly encumbered by issues outside of their control.

From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2025

Tuition rates are high, students leave encumbered with more debt and the state gives less to higher education than others.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 10, 2023

“The turbid river was encumbered with masses of charred wood, with black hulks of vessels, and skeletons of fallen bridges. . . .”

From "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy

Forbes reported on how the influx of returns has encumbering retailers since early 2021.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 28, 2022

This can be an offer to hold any encumbering items — though not, presumably, the cane.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 21, 2021

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

Paintings and sculptures have been given without the encumbering restrictions sometimes demanded by private collectors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2020

He lived magnificently, somewhat encumbering his large estates indeed by his profusion.

From History of The Reign of Philip The Second King of Spain Volume The Third and Biographical & Critical Miscellanies by Prescott, William Hickling