besieged

[bih-seejd]

adjective

1. (of a fortified place) under siege; surrounded by enemy forces and cut off from help or supplies.

   The security forces downplayed the situation, claiming that local authorities were still in full control of the besieged city.

2. surrounded by crowds.

   He was charged with inciting to "mass disturbance" the more than 1,000 people who congregated close to the besieged police station.

3. assailed or inundated with requests or demands.

   Apart from the hero, every man in this movie is a rustic bigot, and every woman a besieged housewife.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of besiege.

Other Word Forms

• unbesieged adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of besieged¹

First recorded in 1425–75; besiege ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; besiege ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

Before its seizure by the RSF on Sunday, the city had been besieged for 18 months.

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But from the beginning, the team he assembled has been besieged by a series of internal disputes.

Read more on Salon

El-Fasher is the last army foothold in the vast western region of Darfur, and has been besieged by the RSF and its allies for 18 months.

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It’s not just a matter of gathering a bunch of bickering survivors inside a besieged location — here it’s a converted Bushwick warehouse — while the outside world goes to hell.

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In the topsy-turvy world of a power grid besieged by exploding demands from artificial-intelligence data centers, the economics are tilting toward geothermal.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• assailed www.thesaurus.com
• attacked www.thesaurus.com
• beleaguered 
• blockaded www.thesaurus.com
• surrounded