encumber
verb (used with object)
to impede or hinder; hamper.
had encumbered
-
past perfectof encumber.past perfect
Used to express a completed action that took place before another specific past action occurred.
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 table had been cleared of the litter of multitudinous papers which had encumbered it before.
From The Elusive Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy
It had encumbered him in his pursuit, and he had dropped it on the prairie, thinking that he could find it on his return; but in this he had failed.
From The Oregon Trail: sketches of prairie and Rocky-Mountain life by Francis Parkman
His mind returned to his own, peculiar problem, to Essie Scofield, to the burden with which he had encumbered himself, the payment that faced him for—for his sheer youth.
From The Three Black Pennys A Novel by Joseph Hergesheimer
His wife, left a widow with a daughter who died at fourteen, addressed herself zealously to the task of paying the indebtedness with which the lamented Jackson had encumbered his property.
From A Hoosier Chronicle by F. C. (Frederick Coffay) Yohn
They fancied that after the passage of the tidal wave of destructiveness the ground was cleared of most of the obstacles which had encumbered it, and that the forward advance might begin forthwith.
From The Inside Story of the Peace Conference by Emile Joseph Dillon
