Idiom
embarrassment of riches
Meaning
An abundance or overabundance of something; too much of a good thing.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“We have an embarrassment of riches when choosing a vacation spot.”
“The chef faced an embarrassment of riches with so many fresh ingredients available in the garden.”
“The university library offers an embarrassment of riches for researchers, providing access to rare historical documents and extensive digital archives alike.”
Examples
simple
“We have an embarrassment of riches when choosing a vacation spot.”
contextual
“The chef faced an embarrassment of riches with so many fresh ingredients available in the garden.”
complex
“The university library offers an embarrassment of riches for researchers, providing access to rare historical documents and extensive digital archives alike.”
Origin
Calque of French embarras des richesses, from John Ozell's 1738 translation of a French play, L'Embarras des richesses (1726) by Léonor Jean Christine Soulas d'Allainval.
Key words
- Updated