Meaning & use
burden
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Meanings
nouncountablefigurative
A heavy responsibility, duty, debt, worry, or source of hardship.
Grammar: Countable with a: a heavy burden. Very often figurative rather than physical.
Patterns
- heavy burden
- burden of something
- place a burden on someone
- relieve the burden
Caring for an elderly parent can be a heavy burden.
High rent places a burden on young families.
She carried the burden of the secret for years.
nouncountable
A literal heavy load carried by a person, animal, or vehicle.
Grammar: Countable; less common in everyday speech than the figurative sense.
Patterns
- carry a burden
- a beast of burden
- lift a burden
The donkey carried its burden up the narrow trail.
Workers lifted the burden onto the platform.
In the old story, the hero drops his burden by the river.
Word forms
| plural | burdens |
|---|
Common combinations
- heavy burden
- Medical bills became a heavy burden after the accident.
- place a burden on someone
- The new fees place a burden on small clubs.
- share the burden
- Neighbors helped share the burden of clearing the fallen trees.
- burden of proof
- In court, the burden of proof rests on the prosecution.
Synonyms and how they differ
- load
- Neutral for physical weight and emotional pressure; burden stresses hardship.
- weight
- Figurative pressure, especially worry or seriousness.
- strain
- Pressure that may continue over time, often on health or finances.
- obligation
- A duty to act, without necessarily feeling heavy or painful.
Opposites
Word family
- burden verb
- To give someone a heavy duty or worry.
- burdensome adjective
- Heavy, difficult, or hard to manage.
- overburden verb
- To load or worry someone too much.
Practice
Caring for three children alone was a heavy ___.
Choose one answer.
The singular noun burden follows a heavy. Burdens is plural and does not agree, while burdened and burdening are verb/adjective forms, not the needed noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “burden”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.