Meaning & use
incumbrance
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableliterary
Something heavy or awkward that holds a person back or makes movement or progress harder.
Grammar: Usually takes a: an incumbrance; plural incumbrances.
Patterns
- an incumbrance to someone
- free of incumbrances
The heavy trunk was an incumbrance on the narrow stairs.
He saw the old debts as an incumbrance to his plans.
She traveled light, free of every incumbrance.
nouncountablelegal
A claim, such as a mortgage, that someone else holds against a property and that can limit its sale or use.
Grammar: Often plural in legal documents: the title has no incumbrances.
Patterns
- incumbrance on something
- free from incumbrances
The land was sold free of any incumbrance.
A mortgage is the most common incumbrance on a house.
The lawyer checked the deeds for hidden incumbrances.
Word forms
| plural | incumbrances |
|---|
Common combinations
- free from incumbrances
- The property is offered free from incumbrances.
- an incumbrance on the estate
- The old loan remained an incumbrance on the estate.
- a needless incumbrance
- The extra luggage was a needless incumbrance.
- register an incumbrance
- The bank registered an incumbrance against the land.
Synonyms and how they differ
- encumbrance
- Is the standard modern spelling of the same word and the safer choice.
- burden
- Is far more common in everyday speech and can be emotional as well as physical.
- hindrance
- Focuses on something that blocks progress, not necessarily something heavy or legal.
- lien
- Is a specific legal right over property for a debt, narrower than the general legal sense of incumbrance.
Opposites
Word family
- incumber verb
- an old variant of encumber, to burden
- unincumbered adjective
- free of burdens or claims
- encumbrance noun
- the modern standard spelling
Commonly confused: incumbrance or incumbent?
incumbrance vs incumbent
An incumbent is someone who currently holds an office; it is not a burden, despite the similar start.
Practice
A buyer wants a house with no incumbrance, meaning no ____ against it.
Choose one answer.
In property law an incumbrance is a claim or debt that limits ownership. The other options are ordinary features, not legal burdens.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incumbrance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.