besiege
Americanverb (used with object)
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besieges,
present (3rd person singular)
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besieged,
past participle, past
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besieging
present participle
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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besiegesimple
-
besiegessimple
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have besiegedperfect
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has besiegedperfect
-
am besiegingprogressive
-
are besiegingprogressive
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is besiegingprogressive
-
have been besiegingperfect progressive
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has been besiegingperfect progressive
Past
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besiegedsimple
-
had besiegedperfect
-
was besiegingprogressive
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were besiegingprogressive
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had been besiegingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of besiege
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English bysegen; see 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
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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.
See Examples For:
He brought with him perhaps 60,000 soldiers, along with numerous cannons, some of enormous size, to besiege the city; a newly constructed fleet patrolled the Bosporus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
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
"I am not sure that they will be able to besiege Kyiv," he tells me.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2022
Adah the Poor Thing, hemiplegious egregious besiege us.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
While stifling heat besieges the nation this weekend from the desert Southwest to the Northeast, coastal Californians can’t afford to be smug.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2022
In “The Shadow of the Vulture” Suleyman the Magnificent besieges Vienna, whose two champions are the carousing ex-knight Gottfried von Kalmbach and the indomitable woman-warrior known as Red Sonya.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 9, 2021
Widowhood besieges her, and “in the siege she has lost everything.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 9, 2020
Ebola’s embers still glow in West Africa, and yellow fever besieges Angola.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2016
He is seized by hallucinations, haunted by sounds: the hysteria of Schumann, the morbid exaltation of Berlioz, communicate themselves to him in the music that besieges his brain.
From Figures of Several Centuries by Arthur Symons
Extremist settlers had set up an illegal outpost close to Jalud and besieged three houses, including two belonging to the al-Tubasis' sons who are married with young daughters.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
Pigeons have besieged the plant for years, posing a health risk to workers and disrupting daily operations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Others floated conspiracy theories accusing the mysterious “they” of trying to “control” Clavicular, or claiming he is besieged with “women trying to ruin his life with rumors.”
From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026
During the four-week trial, female fans besieged Flynn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Howard and Smith were besieged with telegrams and calls from jockeys all over the country.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Louai Abu Ridi owns one of the three houses in Qusra, near Nablus, which settlers began besieging more than a week ago, trapping residents inside and effectively blocking supplies, generating condemnation around the world.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
This week’s ruling is the latest development in the long-running legal saga, which launched in the wake of resident complaints that the autonomous vehicle company’s round-the-clock operation was besieging them with noise, light and traffic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Meanwhile, the RSF has been besieging the capital of North Darfur, el-Fasher, which is defended by a coalition of Darfurian former rebels, known as the Joint Forces, allied with the army.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2025
It is a besieging of the commercial breaks of historic proportions.
From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2024
She did not have a chance to respond, because we were at her house, and she was more interested in besieging her father with questions.
From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
