Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To harass; beset: We are beleaguered by problems.
- v. To surround with troops; besiege. See Synonyms at besiege.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To besiege; surround with an army so as to preclude escape; blockade.
- Synonyms To invest, lay siege to, beset.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To surround with an army so as to preclude escape; to besiege; to blockade.
WordNet 3.0
- v. annoy persistently
- v. surround so as to force to give up
Etymologies
- From Dutch belegeren, equivalent to English be- + lair. (Wiktionary)
- Probably Dutch belegeren : be-, around (from Middle Dutch bie; see ambhi in Indo-European roots) + leger, camp; see legh- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Either way, until all schools are created equal, such drastic and sweeping policies will only aggravate the inconsistencies and inequities that already beleaguer our school system.”
The Huffington Post: Elizabeth Hampton: Eliminating January Regents Could Hurt Some Schools
“Serious troubles continue to beleaguer the operators of the Japanese nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture that was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami.”
Voice of America: Japan Promises to Shut Down Fukushima Reactors By Year's End
“It avoids some of the diplomatic ploys of the big powers that beleaguer the international mechanisms.”
“At length, our leaders decided to beleaguer the city with siege machines, so that we might enter and worship the Savior at the Holy Sepulcher.”
“A similar verse can be found in chapter 9, verse 5 -- which in its snipped, out of context version could read: "fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war.”
“THAROOR: But Richard, where haven't we be generous -- look, after the Mumbai attacks, India deliberately chose not to adopt and beleaguer (ph) on military posturing.”
“JAKARTA, Indonesia -- An Australian employee of international mining giant Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. was shot dead while traveling by car near the company's massive Grasberg mine in Indonesia's remote Papua province before dawn on Saturday, showing how simmering separatist tensions continue to beleaguer President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration.”
“Is that number for effect or does it reflect the wide net cast to beleaguer Bill?”
“WARREN: OK, we don't have to beleaguer on that one.”
“Picts and Scots who beleaguer the early historical studies of most young”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘beleaguer’.
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POL - scandalous (single words only)
acolyte, archrival, backhander, backlash, baksheesh, bashing, boo, bribery, cadre, chicanery, clash, coercion and 256 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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POL - scandalous (words and collocati...
Words and collocations associated with political scandal
blow the whistle, boo, cronyism and rigging, democratic deficit, denigrate, dirty linen, fiasco, finger pointing a..., graft, hidden account, hush money, illicit financing... and 578 more...
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xulilux's list
leviathan, destitute, iapetus, caesura, ineffable, eschew, phosphene, fungible, antediluvian, nomenclature, mottle, europa and 84 more...
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Summers Vocabulary # 2
jejune, ingratiate, congruent, cryptic, beleaguer, tangential, impregnable, predilection, surly, dolorous, untoward, renege
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1834 more...
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apjoseph's words
insurmountable, ubiquitous, unequivocal, incumbent, asinine, amenable, sycophants, precarious, malevolent, gregarious, raison detra, nefarious and 200 more...
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ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 234 more...
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Belistful
Tubey or not tubey.
belittle, bedazzle, besiege, besmirch, bespeckle, beget, bemoan, befuddle, befriend, become, besot, becloud and 596 more...
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GRE Words
abjure, unswear, state, rescission, indemnification, ab, reny, abnegate, vitiated, vitiate, adumbrated, abash and 378 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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SAT vocab
abash, abate, abdicate, aberration, abhor, abject, abnegate, abortive, absolve, abstruse, accolade, accost and 175 more...
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What Do You Mean $
ahh these hurt.....
hermit, prone, maxim, guise, solvenly, lurid, lax, amiable, irate, cloister, mediate, nettle and 100 more...
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collection
sanguine, vie, antebellum, glacial, treacly, iconoclast, lissom, anathema, serendipity, parsimonious, histrionic, contemptuous and 279 more...
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My GRE words
abase, abate, aberrant, abet, abeyance, abject, abjure, ablution, abnegation, abortive, abrogate, abscission and 140 more...
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GRE
Taisha GRE Bible
archaic, archetype, archipelago, architect, archive, arctic, ardor, arduous, argot, arid, armory, arrest and 289 more...
Tweets
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