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Synonyms

embarrassment of riches

Idioms  

  1. An overabundance of something, too much of a good thing, as in All four of them have their own cars but there's no room in the driveway—an embarrassment of riches. This term originated in 1738 as John Ozell's translation of a French play, L'Embarras des richesses (1726).

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The game is an embarrassment of riches for trivia buffs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026

A director having two great movies out within one year is already an embarrassment of riches for the cinema-starved public.

From Salon • Mar. 14, 2025

Abbie Ward steps in for Aldcroft at lock, an area where England have an embarrassment of riches.

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2024

This week’s Slate News Quiz offers an embarrassment of riches.

From Slate • Feb. 23, 2024

Part of what he was wrestling with was, in fact, good news—an embarrassment of riches.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.