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).

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

embarrassment of riches

This debacle is a first-world embarrassment of riches.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

As with so many of The Beatles’ signature albums, “Rubber Soul” proves to be an embarrassment of riches.

From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026

City have won back-to-back games at the start of the Premier League season and Maresca will now have a selection dilemma each game as he possesses an embarrassment of riches to choose from.

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

The game is an embarrassment of riches for trivia buffs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026

All this would be fine—an embarrassment of riches, to be sure; a tad too many treasures to be bestowed on a single human, certainly—if he were nice.

From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon

Related Words

• plethora