alourdir

Alourdir means to make something heavier, physically or figuratively — a heavy meal (alourdir l'estomac), a bureaucratic process (alourdir une procédure), or a piece of writing (alourdir un style). Its opposite is alléger.

• Ce repas trop copieux m'a alourdi l'estomac. — That overly heavy meal weighed down my stomach.
• Les nouvelles taxes alourdissent le coût de production. — The new taxes are increasing production costs.
• Évite d'alourdir ton texte avec trop d'adjectifs. — Avoid weighing your text down with too many adjectives.

Learners forget the figurative uses (a process, a cost, a writing style) and only picture literal physical weight — alourdir is at least as common describing something becoming more cumbersome or burdensome as something becoming heavier in a literal sense.

Often confused with alléger.