beset
Americanverb (used with object)
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to attack on all sides; assail.
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to trouble greatly or grievously; to afflict with mental or physical suffering; harass: Even as he was being beset with disasters, he triumphed.
The best ideas are often beset by bureaucratic hurdles.
Even as he was being beset with disasters, he triumphed.
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to surround; hem in.
The village was beset on all sides by dense forest.
Our work will be beset with dangers.
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to set or place upon; bestud.
The gold bracelet she found was beset with jewels.
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Nautical. to surround (a vessel) by ice, so that control of the helm is lost.
verb
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(esp of dangers, temptations, or difficulties) to trouble or harass constantly
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to surround or attack from all sides
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archaic to cover with, esp with jewels
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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besetsimple
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besetssimple
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have besetperfect
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has besetperfect
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am besettingprogressive
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are besettingprogressive
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is besettingprogressive
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have been besettingperfect progressive
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has been besettingperfect progressive
Past
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besetsimple
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had besetperfect
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was besettingprogressive
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were besettingprogressive
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had been besettingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of beset
First recorded before 1000; from Middle English besetten, Old English besettan. See be-, set
Explanation
Beset means to attack from all sides — an invading army will beset a castle, or you might find yourself beset by a devastating storm. Beset also has a very different meaning: to decorate or encrust with jewels or other ornamentation. If you are attending a ball, you may choose a gown that is beset with silver sequins, just be careful that you don't end up looking like a giant disco ball.
Vocabulary lists containing beset
Beowulf
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"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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:
Inglewood Unified was beset by financial crisis and low academic achievement when the state took control in 2012 as a condition of a $29 million emergency loan to keep the school system afloat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
In recent years it has been beset with problems, with an inspection concluding last year that 44% of prisoners felt unsafe, external.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
In the mid-1980s, Hanoi was beset by hyperinflation and food shortages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
The projects include a giant White House ballroom and a triumphal arch -- plus the Reflecting Pool by the Lincoln Memorial, which is currently beset by algae and peeling paint after a multi-million-dollar upgrade.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
“I have quarreled with my father and Laertes, who suspect our love and doubt your good intentions. They have been watching me. I feel like a deer beset by hounds!”
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
A similar problem besets Georgia's On Replay – a generic club track with a tra-la-la chorus.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
The accounts of ramming must also be seen through the panic that naturally besets humans when they encounter such enormous animals.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2023
The logistical confusion that sometimes besets the narrative, splintering outward even as it barrels toward its grim conclusion, is matched by creeping undercurrents of doubt and anxiety at every turn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2021
While armed conflict besets much of the country, Beileh’s ministry and al-Shabab now compete over the most basic function of governance: to collect revenue and provide services.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 30, 2019
She can talk on evolution; She can proffer a solution For each problem that besets the modern brain.
From A Word to Women by Humphry, Mrs. C. E.
But even jaded readers will be startled by the scope of the self-organizing tyranny besetting the book world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026
The findings suggest kids have been caught in the crossfire of simultaneous immigration and housing crises besetting the city.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 1, 2023
He also followed up on prior deals to provide arms and training to regional powers while adroitly sidestepping the deadly frictions currently besetting the Middle East.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
Many of the forces besetting Europe are compounding one another: an energy crisis, inflation, economic inequality, a slow-moving demographic imbalance, fractious politics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2022
However, the difficulties besetting our task are so great that we cannot hope for more than tentative and incomplete answers.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
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.
