embarrassment of riches

English

Etymology

From John Ozell's 1738 translation of a French play, L'Embarras des richesses (1726) by Léonor Jean Christine Soulas d'Allainval.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

embarrassment of riches (plural embarrassments of riches)

1. (idiomatic) An abundance or overabundance of something; too much of a good thing.
   • 1908, Myrtle Reed, chapter 23, in Flower of the Dusk:

     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.

   • 2006 January 8, Daniel Ginsberg, “Opera in Berlin: A Staat of Flux”, in Washington Post, page N06:

     What might be an embarrassment of riches—a city with three independent and artistically distinct opera companies—may become a lose-lose-lose situation.

Translations

too much of a good thing

• Finnish: runsaudenpula (fi)
• French: embarras du choix (fr) m
• German: Qual der Wahl f
• Hebrew: צרות של עשירים
• Italian: imbarazzo della scelta m
• Polish: klęska urodzaju f, embarras de richesse (pl) (unadapted borrowing)