beleaguer
verb
Did you know?
There's no getting around it: beleaguer is a "troubling" word. It comes from the Dutch verb belegeren, which in turn combines leger, meaning "camp," and the prefix be- (a relative of the English be- meaning "about" or "around"). While the Dutch word, meaning "to camp around," is neutral, its descendent beleaguer implies a whole heap of fuss and bother. Beleaguer was first used in the late 16th century, and is still used today, as a synonym of besiege; indeed, an army beleaguering or besieging a castle may also be said to be "camping around" it, albeit with nefarious rather than recreational purposes. This sense of beleaguer was almost immediately joined, however, by its now more common—and less martial—meaning of "to cause constant or repeated trouble for."
Examples of beleaguer in a Sentence
Julie Tremaine, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
The delay is due to getting external signs installed on all the grocery stores, the latest holdup in a project that has been beleaguered by construction delays.
—Talia Soglin, Chicago Tribune, 27 Mar. 2025
Despite being one of British fashion’s biggest luxury brands, Burberry has been beleaguered by plunging sales and profits, costing it a place on the UK’s FTSE 100 index (which brings together the 100 most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange) last September.
—Kati Chitrakorn, CNN, 25 Feb. 2025
That poor number also brought back memories of the company’s significant profit margin issues back in 2022 when it was beleaguered by a slew of inventory problems.
—Hakyung Kim,sarah Min, CNBC, 15 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for beleaguer
Cite this Entry
“Beleaguer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beleaguer. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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beleaguer
verb
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