UNBURDEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does unburden mean? 

• UNBURDEN (verb)
  The verb UNBURDEN has 2 senses:

1. free or relieve (someone) of a burden

2. take the burden off; remove the burden from

  Familiarity information: UNBURDEN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNBURDEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they unburden    ... he / she / it unburdens   
Past simple: unburdened   
Past participle: unburdened   
-ing form: unburdening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Free or relieve (someone) of a burden

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "unburden" is one way to...):

take (take into one's possession)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody of something

Sentence example:

They unburden him of all his money

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take the burden off; remove the burden from

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

disburden; unburden

Context example:

unburden the donkey

Hypernyms (to "unburden" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "unburden"):

lighten (reduce the weight on; make lighter)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody of something

Antonym:

burden (weight down with a load)

 Context examples 

Georgiana, when not unburdening her heart to me, spent most of her time in lying on the sofa, fretting about the dulness of the house, and wishing over and over again that her aunt Gibson would send her an invitation up to town.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)