BESIEGING Synonyms: 155 Similar and Opposite Words

besieging

verb

present participle of besiege

as in blockading

to surround (as a fortified place) with armed forces for the purpose of capturing or preventing commerce and communication armies besieged the city for six months before it finally surrendered

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in plaguing

to cause persistent suffering to a family besieged by worries about the faltering economy

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in petitioning

to make a request to (someone) in an earnest or urgent manner bereaved parents continued to besiege the president with pleas to end the war

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of besieging French cities have been shaken in recent weeks by vandalism and looting sparked by cost-of-living demonstrations, amid a broader crisis besieging the country’s lame-duck centrist government that has spiked French bond yields. — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 22 Oct. 2026 The Houthis also made important gains inland, all but besieging the strategic city of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, in a move that augured more Houthi advances. — Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026 Israeli police have not announced any arrests or charges against any settler allegedly involved in besieging the Palestinian homes and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly commented on the incident. — Reuters, USA Today, 21 Aug. 2026 Israeli settlers have been besieging homes in the Palestinian village of Qusra for more than a week, with the Israeli military failing to end the violent intimidation campaign. — Chantal Da Silva, NBC news, 17 Aug. 2026 But the film does not explain what ‘hospitality’ has to do with a narrative situation in which the Greeks have been besieging Troy for 10 years already [which Nolan’s movie does not depict]; the Trojans are not their hosts but their enemies in war. — Zack Sharf, Variety, 5 Aug. 2026 Robert Pattinson plays Antinous, the most aggressive of the suitors besieging Penelope. — Valentina Colosimo, Vanity Fair, 14 July 2026 Boris Yeltsin, to everyone’s shock, had then walked through the crowd and climbed one of the Soviet tanks besieging him. — Literary Hub, 22 June 2026 Israel tried to take over Gaza City before in this war, besieging it and launching raids in its streets, but tens of thousands of people remained. — Aya Batrawy, NPR, 5 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for besieging

Verb

On one side, legions of determined teenagers protesting for their future by blockading schools and taking part in marches that have sometimes spiraled into violence.

— ABC News, ABC News, 16 Oct. 2026
Anti-riot police officers face protesting students carrying out blockading action outside the secondary school Le Corbusier, in Aubervilliers, northern Paris on October 1, 2026.

— Chloe Taylor, CNBC, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of blockading

Verb

After the great lift drama of 2026, Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba proposes a new solution to the problem plaguing pros trying to add pizzazz to their routines.

— Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 27 Oct. 2026
The extraordinary extent of Edward’s absorption in Nighthawks suggests that the painting was a product of exceptional, almost obsessive focus, with little of the typical delays or doubts plaguing its genesis.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of plaguing

Verb

Those hoping to challenge the highest court’s composition or jurisdiction may go about that in a few ways, such as by petitioning for term limits.

— Connor Greene, Time, 21 Oct. 2026
Some vendors have been petitioning the FCC, noting that the ongoing memory shortage has forced them to modify existing routers with replacement components.

— Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of petitioning

Verb

In July, Brown pleaded guilty to a count of affray at London’s Southwark Crown Court for attacking a music producer with a tequila bottle on the head.

— Leo Barraclough, Variety, 26 Oct. 2026
The approval of Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer drug Rasonque earlier this year showed that a medicine capable of attacking mutations in a group of genes called RAS could prolong survival for patients with the particularly aggressive cancer.

— Adam Feuerstein, STAT, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of attacking

Verb

Singh and Jaggseer, like Beyoncé and Lil Nas X before them, highlight an identity crisis afflicting modern country music.

— Harmeet Kaur, CNN Money, 19 Sep. 2026
The work continues and the Frates family has maintained the passion that Pete instilled in them in fighting the disease that is still afflicting far too many people.

— Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 6 Sep. 2026

Definition of afflicting

Verb

Video on social media showed distressed shopkeepers begging young men to stop stealing their inventory—and those young men pushing them aside to grab shoes and food from their shelves.

— Jim Edwards, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
So your group chat has been begging you to host the next big viewing night, and your bank account is giving you side-eye.

— Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of begging

Verb

Captured by the Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, or SMILE, the footage reveals the full ring of auroral activity encircling Earth's north pole in ultraviolet light, stretching across both the night and day sides of our planet.

— Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Dumas watched, charmed, his arms encircling his wife’s shoulders, and accepted an ice-cream sundae in a silver parfait cup.

— Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026

Definition of encircling

Verb

Biden weaponized Law Enforcement against his political opponent, while also persecuting many other innocent people.

— New York Times, New York Times, 11 June 2026
Jack Hayford, the founder of the King’s University, in Texas, claimed that the film was persecuting Christians, who only wanted to be treated equally.

— Isaac Butler, New Yorker, 30 May 2026

Definition of persecuting

Browse Nearby Words

besieges

besieging

besmear

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“Besieging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/besieging. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of besieging

verb

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