encumbrance - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

A burden or serious concern is an encumbrance. Your being five feet tall could be an encumbrance when it comes to your dream of playing professional basketball.

Something that blocks you from doing what you want to do is an encumbrance, like the rocky soil in your garden that makes it impossible for you to grow tomatoes. A burden or hindrance can also be an encumbrance, the way wearing thick knitted mittens makes it harder for you to dial your cell phone — your mittens are an encumbrance. The word comes from the Latin word incombrare, which means "barricade or obstacle."

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: encumbrance

1	n	an onerous or difficult concern
2	n	a charge against property (as a lien or mortgage)

FULL DEFINITIONS OF: encumbrance

1

n an onerous or difficult concern

Synonyms:: burden, incumbrance, load, onus

Types:: show 4 types...; hide 4 types...; dead weight
an oppressive encumbrance; fardel
a burden (figuratively in the form of a bundle); imposition
an uncalled-for burden; pill
something unpleasant or offensive that must be tolerated or endured

Type of:: concern, headache, vexation, worry
something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness

n any obstruction that impedes or is burdensome

Synonyms:: hinderance, hindrance, hitch, incumbrance, interference, preventative, preventive

Types:: clog
any object that acts as a hindrance or obstruction; speed bump
a hindrance to speeding created by a crosswise ridge in the surface of a roadway

Type of:: impediment, impedimenta, obstructer, obstruction, obstructor
any structure that makes progress difficult

2

n a charge against property (as a lien or mortgage)

Synonyms:: incumbrance

Type of:: charge
financial liabilities (such as a tax)