beleaguered

adjective be·lea·guered \ bi-ˈlē-gərd , bē- \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Definition of beleaguered

: 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

Recent Examples of beleaguered from the Web

The approval Thursday of Hartford’s budget by a state oversight panel brought the saga of the city’s beleaguered finances to an end — for now.

— jenna carlesso, Courant Community, "Oversight Board Approves Budget, End-Of-Year Subsidy For Hartford," 7 June 2018
Other Bay Area radio vets at KOZT include Kate Hayes and Tom Yates … Good news for the beleaguered Cumulus Media’s local cluster: Doug Harvill, late of CBS Radio’s S.F. stations, is taking over as SVP/market manager.

— ben fong-torres, San Francisco Chronicle, "Sports radio talkers snubbed in trade publication’s ‘Heavy 100’ rankings," 6 June 2018
The Boise visit came as the beleaguered EPA chief faces about one dozen investigations into his spending, along with other ethics issues.

— cynthia sewell, idahostatesman, "In Boise, EPA head Scott Pruitt talks pollution program, ducks ethics questions," 5 June 2018
Killer7 was originally published by Capcom as part of a coordinated effort to support Nintendo's beleaguered GameCube console.

— sam byford, The Verge, "GameCube cult classic Killer7 is coming to PC this fall," 28 May 2018
That the Diamondbacks’ biggest scoring chance in a punchless 4-2 loss was scotched because of their inability to hit the fastball is nothing new for this beleaguered offense.

— nick piecoro, azcentral, "Diamondbacks’ spiral continues in loss to Brewers," 21 May 2018
The beleaguered South African retailer said Thursday that roles played by former executives in an accounting scandal are being investigated and the company is taking legal advice on how to seek justice.

— john bowker, Bloomberg.com, "Steinhoff Hunts for Executives Behind Accounts Scandal," 20 May 2018
The news of the settlement was followed by even more turmoil at USA Gymnastics, the beleaguered national governing body for gymnastics.

— alice park, Time, "Gymnast Who Was Abused by Larry Nassar Says MSU Must Do More Than Pay $500 Million. It Must Change," 18 May 2018
Slade writes with novelistic precision about the many complicated decisions that the beleaguered Captain Michael Davidson — a 53-year-old with two daughters to put through college — had to make aboard a ship built for another time.

— joshunda sanders, Longreads, "Who Sank El Faro? An Interview With Rachel Slade," 23 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'beleaguered.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.