beleaguered

adjective

be·​lea·​guered bi-ˈlē-gərd 

bē-

: suffering or being subjected to constant or repeated trouble or harassment

an economically beleaguered city

With its life-support system cut off, the beleaguered college has embarked on a tortuous campaign to keep going.

—Lucinda Harper

… as he evolved from conformist to opportunist to reformer to revolutionary to beleaguered leader.

—Philip Taubman

Examples of beleaguered in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The audit released June 30 dinged the beleaguered spacecraft’s tumultuous and still uncertain path toward certification and warns that the timetable for its use to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station is running short. — Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 6 July 2026

The news came a day before Liz reported on Hong Kong’s beleaguered cinema market finally having an upturn, with overall box office revenues increasing by 25% thanks to a strong line-up of local and Hollywood releases. — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 3 July 2026

As investors moved away from data center plays, software once again is moving in the opposite direction, with beleaguered software names like Salesforce and Microsoft benefiting. — Jeff Marks, CNBC, 2 July 2026

As viewers of the show know by now, Josslyn is the beleaguered daughter of Carly Spencer and has been working as an agent for the World Securities Bureau (WSB), a spy agency preserving order, since the killing of her boyfriend. — Marlow Stern, Variety, 2 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

from past participle of beleaguer

First Known Use

1644, in the meaning defined above