siege

American  

[seej] / sidʒ /

noun

1. the act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible.

2. any prolonged or persistent effort to overcome resistance.

3. a series of illnesses, troubles, or annoyances besetting a person or group.

   a siege of head colds.

4. a prolonged period of trouble or annoyance.

5. Ornithology. Also

   1. a flock of herons.

   2. the station of a heron at prey.

6. the shelf or floor of a glassmaking furnace on which the glass pots are set.

7. Obsolete.

   1. a seat, especially one used by a person of distinction, as a throne.

   2. station as to rank or class.

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verb (used with object)

sieged, sieging

1. to assail or assault; besiege.

idioms

1. lay siege to, to besiege.

   The army laid siege to the city for over a month.

siege British  

/ siːdʒ /

noun

1. 1. the offensive operations carried out to capture a fortified place by surrounding it, severing its communications and supply lines, and deploying weapons against it

   2. ( as modifier )

      siege warfare

2. a persistent attempt to gain something

3. a long tedious period, as of illness, etc

4. obsolete a seat or throne

5. to besiege

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verb

1. (tr) to besiege or assail

Related Words

Siege, blockade are terms for prevention of free movement to or from a place during wartime. Siege implies surrounding a city and cutting off its communications, and usually includes direct assaults on its defenses. Blockade is applied more often to naval operations that block all commerce, especially to cut off food and other supplies from defenders.

Other Word Forms

• siegeable adjective
• unsieged adjective

Etymology

Origin of siege

First recorded in 1175–1225; (noun) Middle English sege, from Old French: “seat,” noun derivative of siegier, from unattested Vulgar Latin sedicāre “to set,” derivative of Latin sedēre “to sit” ( see sit ¹); (verb) Middle English segen, derivative of the noun

Explanation

Your city is under siege if it is surrounded on all sides by an opposing force on attack. Think of a castle surrounded by a legion of armed knights. Like many military words, siege can be used metaphorically. If you start getting thousands of e-mail messages trying to sell you canned meat, you might feel like you're under a siege of spam selling spam. In this case, you have been besieged by spam. And even more unfortunately, if you are having a siege of bad luck, you have been besieged by bad luck.

Example Sentences

"I didn't even move for the English when they colonised us," she told AFP through a toothless smile, a year after the army broke the siege, and 70 after the British occupation of Khartoum ended.

From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026

These are not isolated stories; they reflect a system under siege.

From Salon • Apr. 11, 2026

Before she became an educator at UT–Arlington, she spent decades as a forensic analyst working high-profile cases such as the Branch Davidian siege in Waco.

From Slate • Apr. 6, 2026

When Fabien Galthie had his bizarre pop at the size of the away dressing room at Murrayfield, was that his attempt at creating a siege mentality?

From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026

Nico hoped they could sneak up on the third siege machine.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• barricade
• closure
• encirclement
• restriction
• roadblock
• stoppage