beset
verb (used with object)
to attack on all sides; assail.
was besetting
-
past progressiveof beset.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Vitellozzo was carried thither on his bed, so stricken with the morbo gallico—which in Italy was besetting most princes, temporal and ecclesiastical—that he was unable to walk.
From The Life of Cesare Borgia by Rafael Sabatini
It seemed far longer since that hot summer's day when she had rushed away to Devonshire, vainly seeking a narcotic for the new and bewildering turmoil of pain that was besetting her.
From The Lamp of Fate by Margaret Pedler
La Boulaye demanded, striving to exclude from his voice any shade of the chagrin that was besetting him.
From The Trampling of the Lilies by Rafael Sabatini
And Mrs. Douglas, noble and disinterested as ever, rose superior to the weakness that she felt was besetting her.
From Marriage by Susan Edmonstone Ferrier
Next day I noticed, although my malady was besetting me sorely, that Lothair was sitting immersed in an old folio.
From The Serapion Brethren. Vol. II by Ernst Theordor Wilhelm Hoffmann
