Definition of burden in English:

burden

Pronunciation /ˈbərdn/

noun

1A load, typically a heavy one.
- ‘And laying my heavy burden in the safe hands of the luggage compartment I went to my seat and was given rest.’
- ‘Old hags being bent double, with heavy burdens attached at either end of long poles slung over a shoulder.’
- ‘Just out of school, and freed from the confines of the uniform and the burden of the heavy schoolbag, life seems to stretch endlessly ahead.’
- ‘Mike grunts from the burden of Tristan's dead weight.’
- ‘My shoulders have been so wore with carrying burdens that the skin has come off them and grew full of boils.’
- ‘The trees look ready to have the burden of snow, and whether they want to deal with this burden or not, it's coming.’
load, cargo, freight, weight
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1. 1.1A duty or misfortune that causes hardship, anxiety, or grief; a nuisance.
  ‘the burden of long-term illness’
  ‘Home affordability for those unfortunates who aren't on the ladder must be an absolute disaster given the tax burden and low wages.’
  ‘That was a huge burden of stress, worry, and cost for the small business that I worked for.’
  ‘And whichever names you dress it up with or rationales used to justify it, it's a fancy way to describe putting more of the tax burden on middle income earners.’
  ‘The Treasury also claims that it is difficult to measure the burden of indirect taxes on different types of households, adding that no reliable figures are available!’
  ‘Irksome burdens lighten and niggling worries vanish, when friends rally round to help us see life in its true perspective.’
  ‘They offer us a shoulder to cry on and place a comforting arm around our shoulders to lighten the burden of sorrow and misfortune.’
  ‘Probably, at least in the years immediately ahead, the bulk of his physique will be less of a worry than the burden of celebrity he will have to carry.’
  ‘Women in both urban and rural areas carry the burden of domestic duties and child care in addition to working outside the home.’
  ‘By paying the taxes, you will one day inherit the home without the burden of the tax liability.’
  ‘He did not simply confess their sin - he felt its burden with deep distress.’
  ‘In line with EU requirements however, the Cabinet will continue to expand the burden of excise duties on alcohol and cigarettes, and possibly fuels too.’
  ‘It was a combat tour during another war, one that saw our nation's best and bravest assume the burden of selfless duty to God, and liberty, and country.’
  ‘Most doctors, though, loaded with heavy clinical burdens, seldom have the time for such reviews.’
  ‘One way or another, it is the rare dollar of corporate profits that bears a tax burden heavier than the burden on an employee's wages.’
  ‘As president, Susilo bears a heavy burden, charged as he is with protecting his people, as he tries to make Indonesia more attractive to foreign investors.’
  ‘Expectation can be a heavy burden to carry - but the weight of no expectation is greater still.’
  ‘As the caretakers of this Earth, our people have been charged with a heavy burden.’
  ‘Accommodation charges are deemed to be the heaviest burden on students finances, and are most often cited as a major factor in choice of university.’
  ‘This time, however, he's charged with a heavier burden as the deputy prime minister in charge of the national economy.’
  ‘The burden of his guilt was heavier than the burden of his shame.’
  responsibility, onus, charge, duty, obligation, liability
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2. 1.2The main responsibility for achieving a specified aim or task.
  ‘the burden of establishing that the cost was unreasonable’
  ‘She labored under the arduous burden of trying to achieve clarity at a time when the government places an understandably high premium on secrecy.’
  ‘Unfortunately, the burden of this task - of displaying to the world such terrifying conditions - proves too much for the film.’
  ‘Many very poor countries today shoulder the main burden of sheltering the millions who flee war, persecution, environmental devastation and hunger.’
  ‘But the burden for achieving national unity is on a president who could manage a narrow victory only by savagely trashing his opponent.’
  ‘The Tories, most likely to have the main burden of opposition, look at least as unprepared for that responsibility as they appear to be for taking over government.’
  ‘Since Nasser's Suez grab the Egyptian frontier has been relatively quiet; the main burden of daily harassment has passed to Jordan.’
  ‘With the expansion of the Union's tasks, the burden of adjustment has grown for each successive wave of accession.’
  ‘The common belief that the British were obliged to shoulder the main burden of World War I is a historical travesty.’
  ‘If, as the polls tell us, a Labour-led administration is going to be returned at Holyrood then a burden of responsibility falls on Jack McConnell over the next short period.’
  ‘Indeed, older women bear the main burden of the search for firewood, as areas outside the camps are not safe for younger women and girls, who become the targets of the Janjaweed militias.’
  ‘Should the burden of responsibility for public safety be shoved on to a single developer?’
  ‘The burden of proving that the ship was not seaworthy and that unseaworthiness caused or contributed to the loss or damage complained of, lies on the defendants.’
  ‘The Court of Appeal in Wilson was surely right to declare that the burden of finding strong arguments should lie on those who wish to criminalize consensual conduct, not on those who wish it to be lawful.’
  ‘But now the burden is on the sceptic to formulate an argument that does not depend on the doctrine.’
  ‘Would the proposal be that you will carry the burden in the first instance of the argument against the Minister in those two appeals?’
  ‘Especially in cases of free speech, shouldn't the burden be on the plaintiff to prove infringement?’
  ‘They both raise the issue of whether the burden should shift to the defendant and if so to what standard.’
  ‘In this situation, the burden of convening a meeting falls on the shareholders.’
  ‘Significantly, the burden of proving innocence is reversed, because it is presumed until the contrary is shown that the defendant did not have the relevant knowledge.’
  job, duty, chore, charge, labour, piece of work, piece of business, assignment, function, commission, mission, engagement, occupation, undertaking, exercise, business, responsibility, errand, detail, endeavour, enterprise, venture, quest, problem, burden
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3. 1.3A ship's carrying capacity; tonnage.
  ‘the schooner Wyoming, of about 6,000 tons burden’
  ‘The one enjoyed by certain French ports over colonial trade was virtually abandoned when all ports capable of accommodating ships of 100 tons' burden were included in the list.’
  ‘They were as large as any wooden ships ever built, as much as two thousand tons burden; a French king had a tennis court installed in one.’
  ‘Each of these vessels was fourteen tons burden and plied the same route as those owned by Barlow.’
2the burdenThe main theme or gist of a speech, book, or argument.
‘the burden of his views’
- ‘Now, as I understood the burden of your argument, it was that there was no valuable consideration, not that there was no purchaser.’
- ‘This is the Private Language Argument, the burden of which is that there can be no such thing as a language invented by and intelligible to a single individual only.’
- ‘Mr Lynagh for Mr Unwin carried the burden of the argument here.’
- ‘The problem is that when those amendments come fast and late, it is difficult for the officials to immediately recognise the burden of the argument and the strength of the propositions.’
- ‘It is the burden of Spirited Lives to tell that story with a focus on one religious community, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondolet.’
- ‘Sylvian embodies an energetic, hybridized spirituality, and the burden of this essay is to track and note some of the major signposts on his ongoing pilgrimage.’
- ‘This was an intolerable assault, ran the burden of their complaint, on ‘freedom of speech’.’
- ‘These issues are precisely the burden of many complaints now being raised under the rubric of environmental justice and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.’
- ‘This effort is the burden of his most substantive work to date, Theology and Social Theory.’
- ‘This is the burden of Francis Schaeffer's books, such as Death in the City, Whatever happened to the Human Race and Escape from Reason.’
- ‘It is the burden of Steven Payne's enormously fascinating book to answer that question.’
- ‘The main burden of Rogoff's criticism is that Stiglitz is an ivory-tower academic with no practical experience of real crises management situations.’
- ‘The main burden of Hobsbawm's treatment of these years is political.’
- ‘The main burden of this chapter is to argue against strict compositionality and for partial compositionality.’
- ‘Part of acknowledging our inadequacies and sinfulness is to admit when you are doing a lousy job speaking the truth, which is the main burden of the Cdl's message.’
- ‘This brings us to Robin Mathews, the burden of my song.’
- ‘But the entire burden of my learned friend's song was to the effect that what happened in this case was a more or less clear case of negligence, because of foreseeability.’
gist, substance, drift, implication, intention, thrust, meaning, significance, signification, sense, essence, thesis, import, purport, tenor, message, spirit
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3archaic The refrain or chorus of a song.
- ‘It is to be found in many cultures and periods, for example in the medieval carol, where the burden represents the A section.’
- ‘The first two lines constitute the burden or refrain which is customarily repeated after every stanza.’
- ‘The refrain stands at the head and is sung by all: a soloist sings the various stanzas; and all add to each of them the opening burden or refrain.’
refrain, burden, strain
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transitive verb

[with object]

1Load heavily.
‘she walked forward burdened with a wooden box’
- ‘Ants burdened with loads of leaf fragments march toward their underground fungal gardens.’
- ‘A camel, burdened with a heavy load, slowly trudges across the hot desert sand with no relief from the burning sun.’
- ‘Bustling in, burdened with packages, she had just returned from a twelve-hour day at The Children's Art Carnival.’
load, weight, charge
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1. 1.1Cause (someone) hardship or distress.
  ‘they were not yet burdened with adult responsibility’
  ‘They shouldn't worry about burdening us with calls, that's what we're there for.’
  ‘Your other children, in particular, may try to deal with their pain alone so as not to burden you with additional worries.’
  ‘Yet when he's hurt he pulls away, not wanting to burden anyone with his worries.’
  ‘Besides it being unfair and immature for adults to burden children with such an assignment, taking these messages into the schools is both illogical and ineffective.’
  ‘Their pain does not allow them to see how much the increased financial responsibility burdens the men.’
  ‘He hates you for ruining his life, by burdening him with a responsibility that his weak male ego was unable to bear.’
  ‘Some people find it easier to talk to an anonymous stranger about their worries and fears than to burden a family member or friend.’
  ‘Liz, who suffers from burnout, tells of a neighbor who burdens her with a harrowing tale of Vietnam.’
  ‘Often, they explained, children won't reveal their worries because they don't want to burden their parents.’
  ‘The role prevents women in senior positions from burdening other people with their problems.’
  ‘Jacob urged all regional administrations not to further burden the displaced people and to allow their children to be exempt from school tuition fees.’
  ‘Back in those days, I didn't want to burden other people with my pain.’
  ‘You feel burdened by too much work or responsibility, its best to share and delegate work and not carry the entire load yourself.’
  ‘Next they don't want their deaths to burden their families or leave responsibilities unresolved.’
  ‘Unfortunately we are burdened by a new system which requires an executive to respond to scrutiny proposals.’
  ‘Don't burden him with chores, as this could further his stress.’
  ‘In the worst cases angina had a devastating impact on quality of life, leaving patients in a state of ‘hopelessness and pain’ and also severely burdening families and health services.’
  ‘But I think at this stage, we're better off taking the risk and hitting the traffickers than burdening the farmers with a major eradication program.’
  ‘There was a well-publicised spat with sports writers whom he claimed were burdening him with too much attention for a tennis player ranked in the 40-somethings.’
  ‘You know, a prosecutor can put this together, and argue that he knew something was going to happen, so he would no longer have that life that was burdening him.’
  oppress, trouble, cause trouble to, cause suffering to
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Phrases

burden of proof

The obligation to prove one's assertion.
- ‘The Crown continues to have the burden of proof of proving an offence beyond a reasonable doubt.’
- ‘It may well be that the ultimate objection is that such a pleading places a burden of proof on the claimant to prove his innocence.’
- ‘These provisions set out the burden of proof in discrimination cases.’
- ‘The presumption of innocence is in effect being overturned here, placing the burden of proof on the accused.’
- ‘He also says that the burden of proof in Ireland for a successful prosecution is far higher than in other countries.’
- ‘There is a reason why there is a burden of proof - in science as well as law!’
- ‘It also made clear that the burden of proof would be put on the concerned governments.’
- ‘This new emphasis must push further the burden of proof from the prosecution to the defence.’
- ‘At an industrial tribunal, the burden of proof is on the employer to prove that it did not discriminate in the ways complained of.’
- ‘The plaintiff retains the burden of proof, but the jury is instructed that acceptable proof to satisfy that burden can take one of several forms.’