embattled

adjective

em·bat·tled | \ im-ˈba-tᵊld

Definition of embattled

1a : ready to fight : prepared to give battle here once the embattled farmers stood— R. W. Emerson

b : engaged in battle, conflict, or controversy an embattled official accused of extortion

2a : being a site of battle, conflict, or controversy the embattled capital

b : characterized by conflict or controversy an embattled presidency

Examples of embattled in a Sentence

the embattled coach of a losing team

Recent Examples on the Web

Icelandair, the country's largest airline that was once mulled purchasing its embattled counterpart, is reportedly offering discounted rates to passengers stranded in the wake of Wow's sudden disbandment. — Sam Blum, Popular Mechanics, "Discount Airline 'Wow' Shuts Down Out of Nowhere, Stranding Thousands of Passengers," 28 Mar. 2019 Empire—and its embattled star, Jussie Smollett—will return to Fox on Wednesday night, just days after Smollett was indicted on 16 felony charges for allegedly staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in January. — Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, "Jussie Smollett Will Be Back on Empire Tonight," 13 Mar. 2019 Trump was even capable of coming up with 91 nice words about Pruitt, his beyond embattled EPA administrator. — Chris Cillizza, CNN, "Donald Trump just dunked on Jeff Sessions in the most vicious way possible," 6 June 2018 The internal Republican poll also shows President Trump's job approval rating in Missouri at 53 percent, while embattled Gov. Eric Greitens' approval has declined to 31 percent. — Mark Murray, NBC News, "Internal GOP poll shows a virtual tie in Missouri's Senate race," 30 Apr. 2018 Trump last Friday asked Tillerson to step aside, and the embattled top diplomat cut short his trip to Africa on Monday to return to Washington. — The Washington Post, OregonLive.com, "How the last five days of Rex Tillerson's tenure played out," 13 Mar. 2018 Trump last Friday asked Tillerson to step aside, and the embattled top diplomat cut short his trip to Africa on Monday to return to Washington. — The Washington Post, AL.com, "Trump ousts Rex Tillerson; CIA Director Mike Pompeo named Secretary of State," 13 Mar. 2018 Image Twitter will begin removing tens of millions of suspicious accounts from users’ followers on Thursday, signaling a major new effort to restore trust on the popular but embattled platform. — Nicholas Confessore, New York Times, "Battling Fake Accounts, Twitter to Slash Millions of Followers," 11 July 2018 Hey, is that a book by embattled Missouri Governor Eric Greitens in the otherwise unremarkable trailer for the upcoming Mark Wahlberg movie Mile 22? — Lisa Gutierrez, kansascity, "Don't blink or you'll miss Eric Greitens' book in new Mark Wahlberg movie | The Kansas City Star," 16 May 2018

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