siege

[ seej ]

See synonyms for: siege sieged sieging on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.
any prolonged or persistent effort to overcome resistance.

a series of illnesses, troubles, or annoyances besetting a person or group: a siege of head colds.
a prolonged period of trouble or annoyance.
Also sedge. Ornithology.
- a flock of herons.
- the station of a heron at prey.
the shelf or floor of a glassmaking furnace on which the glass pots are set.
Obsolete.
- a seat, especially one used by a person of distinction, as a throne.
- station as to rank or class.

verb (used with object),sieged, sieg·ing.

to assail or assault; besiege.

Idioms about siege

lay siege to, to besiege: The army laid siege to the city for over a month.

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 sit¹); (verb) Middle English segen, derivative of the noun

synonym study For siege

1. 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 words from siege

siege·a·ble, adjective
un·sieged, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use siege in a sentence

He said if not for the siege on the Capitol — in addition to fatigue with news related to the pandemic — the story of the day late Wednesday might have been the record death count.
U.S. records its deadliest day of the pandemic while eyes are fixed on mob storming Capitol | Paulina Firozi | January 7, 2021 | Washington Post
In the most dramatic moments of the siege, with armed officers in every corner of the Senate, police began barking out instructions.
Inside the assault on the Capitol: Evacuating the Senate | Paul Kane | January 7, 2021 | Washington Post
As we sat in the still cold, the city was under silent siege.
“Those of Us Who Don’t Die Are Going to Quit”: A Crush of Patients, Dwindling Supplies and the Nurse Who Lost Hope | by J. David McSwane | December 30, 2020 | ProPublica
If confirmed, Becerra faces a federal department under siege at a critical moment during a pandemic that has reached 15,151,035 active cases in the United States and caused the deaths of over 288,880 Americans as of December 6.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra picked as HHS secretary | Brody Levesque | December 7, 2020 | Washington Blade
It goes hand in hand with efforts to define who counts as a “real” American, painting the country as under siege from foreign influences — immigrants, socialists and secularists.
Why Republicans are resorting to anti-socialism hysteria | Jennifer Rubin | December 3, 2020 | Washington Post

Brandenburg saw its towns sieged and sacked, its country populations driven to despair, by the one party and the other.
History Of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. III. (of XXI.) | Thomas Carlyle
He knows every foot of the ground, having sieged here, in his boyhood, once before.
History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XV. (of XXI.) | Thomas Carlyle
We're sieged in by planes and ground forces of Savannah Fortress.
The Night of the Long Knives | Fritz Reuter Leiber

British Dictionary definitions for siege

siege

/ (siːdʒ) /

noun

- the offensive operations carried out to capture a fortified place by surrounding it, severing its communications and supply lines, and deploying weapons against it
- (as modifier): siege warfare
a persistent attempt to gain something

a long tedious period, as of illness, etc
obsolete a seat or throne
lay siege to to besiege

verb

(tr) to besiege or assail

Origin of siege

C13: from Old French sege a seat, from Vulgar Latin sēdicāre (unattested) to sit down, from Latin sedēre

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Browse