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siege

American  

[seej] / sidʒ /

noun

• sieges
  plural

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

Synonym Usage

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

Derived Forms

• siegeable
  adjective
• unsieged
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sieges
  plural

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

See Examples For:

siege sieges sieged sieging

During the 1710 siege of Tallinn, for example, the disease killed Swedish and Russian soldiers as well as civilians.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026

If a 63-hour hostage siege sounds tiresome, it certainly can be.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

Miklosko stood in United's way, denying Mark Hughes, Lee Sharpe and Andy Cole in what frustrated Red Devils manager Alex Ferguson described as a "siege".

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

Srebrenica, a mainly Muslim town in eastern Bosnia, falls to Bosnian Serb troops shortly after the start of the siege of the capital Sarajevo at the beginning of the Bosnian war in April 1992.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

“I never knew a siege to be raised like that before. They raised it overnight They went as if they had been blown away.”

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Similar sieges unfolded across Syria—in Duma, Zabadani, and beyond.

From Slate ● Nov. 19, 2025

We stretch beyond the cathedral and onto Pamplona’s city walls, where the stone holds centuries of sieges, prayers, and heartbreak.

From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025

The tactics to enforce the sieges have also limited residents’ access to health and education, forcing one in 12 people across the country to flee their homes, the organization said.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2023

The UN human rights chief has said sieges are illegal under international law.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2023

You could calculate exactly how many power cells were needed, and sieges could be extended for up to eight hours.

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer

On February 28, 1993, law enforcement sieged Mount Carmel Center ranch, the compound that belonged to Koresh and his religious cult.

From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2023

Now, Yedlin has a baby daughter named Seneca — which is also a nod to the Roman philosopher and predominantly Black village sieged in the 1800s to build Central Park in New York.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 15, 2022

“There is quite a lot of people still remaining in the absolutely sieged city of Mariupol in some inhumane conditions,” he said during a video briefing.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 4, 2022

Over these past weekends, many of my friends have attended medical first aid courses, survival courses on how to survive in an occupied or sieged city.

From Slate ● Feb. 18, 2022

The city's sieged, and thou thus chain'd In airy fetters of a lady's love!

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume 14 of 15 by Robert Dodsley

It has also levied some sanctions on those doing the sieging.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 2022

Otto went about, sieging much the same, with the iron in his head; and is called Otto MIT DEM PFOILE, Otto SAGITTARIUS, or Otto with the Arrow, in consequence.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 02 by Thomas Carlyle

His worst war was with Pommern,—just claims disputed there, and much confused bickering, sieging and harassing in consequence: of which quarrel we must speak anon.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 03 by Thomas Carlyle

So thinks Czarish Majesty, as well as Soltikof, privately, though there are difficulties as to Dantzig; and, in fine, except Colberg over again, there can be nothing attempted of sieging thereabouts.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 19 by Thomas Carlyle

The War, since Friedrich got out of it, does not abate in animosity, nor want for bloodshed, battle and sieging; but offers little now memorable.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 16 by Thomas Carlyle

Related Words

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