Definition
An abundance or overabundance of something; too much of a good thing.
Origins
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.
In Context
- "Roger was in the library, trying to choose, from an embarrassment of riches, the ten of his father's books which he was to be permitted to take to the city."
- "What might be an embarrassment of riches—a city with three independent and artistically distinct opera companies—may become a lose-lose-lose situation."