verb
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to surround (a fortified area, esp a city) with military forces to bring about its surrender
-
to crowd round; hem in
-
to overwhelm, as with requests or queries
Other Word Forms
- besiegement noun
- besieger noun
- besiegingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of besiege
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English bysegen; be-, siege
Explanation
To besiege means to attack with an army, or to pester with many requests. When all your teachers ask you to hand in assignments on the same day, you can end up feeling besieged. The source of the word besiege in its military sense is the Latin word for "seat." When an army settles down in front of a fort or other site of attack, they are besieging it or taking a seat there. Picture them continually bombarding the fortress with arrows and cannon shot, and you've got the picture of the figurative sense of the word, "to pester with requests, etc." If you get a lot of spam in your e-mail, you are besieged with advertisements — and maybe also besieged with worries that you'll get a virus!
Vocabulary lists containing besiege
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Grade 9, List 1
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One scene that stuck with me: As Union troops besiege Atlanta, shells are exploding, people flee in panic.
From Salon • Mar. 29, 2025
The feeling of being in a great city as raging infernos besiege it but don’t quite subsume it?
From Slate • Jan. 9, 2025
That decision to besiege rather than directly attack the giant Azovstal plant means that “many Russian units remain fixed in the city and cannot be redeployed,” the British assessment said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 25, 2022
"I am not sure that they will be able to besiege Kyiv," he tells me.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2022
"There is no other way to besiege Riverrun, yet still, that will be their undoing. Two or three thousand horse."
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
