If you are encumbered by something, it prevents you from moving freely or doing what you want. Lead weights and air cylinders encumbered the divers as they walked to the shore. It is still laboring under the debt that it was encumbered with in the 1980s.

What does it mean when a person is encumbered?

To encumber is to weigh someone or something down with a physical or psychological burden. You may find yourself encumbered by a heavy backpack or with anxieties. Either way, it's a heavy load to bear!

What is an example of encumbered?

To encumber is defined as to restrain, weigh down, hinder or obstruct. When a heavy load makes it hard for a wagon to move, this is an example of encumber.