BELEAGUER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does beleaguer mean? 

• BELEAGUER (verb)
  The verb BELEAGUER has 2 senses:

1. annoy persistently

2. surround so as to force to give up

  Familiarity information: BELEAGUER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BELEAGUER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they beleaguer    ... he / she / it beleaguers   
Past simple: beleaguered   
Past participle: beleaguered   
-ing form: beleaguering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Annoy persistently

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

badger; beleaguer; bug; pester; tease

Context example:

The children teased the boy because of his stammer

Hypernyms (to "beleaguer" is one way to...):

bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment (treat cruelly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot beleaguer Sue

Sense 2

Meaning:

Surround so as to force to give up

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

beleaguer; besiege; circumvent; hem in; surround

Context example:

The Turks besieged Vienna

Hypernyms (to "beleaguer" is one way to...):

assail; attack (launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "beleaguer"):

blockade; seal off (impose a blockade on)

ebb (hem in fish with stakes and nets so as to prevent them from going back into the sea with the ebb)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

And yet I cannot think that any Scottish or French rovers could land in such force as to beleaguer the fortalice.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)