Synonyms of besieging

besieging

verb

present participle of besiege

1

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• blockading
• attacking
• encircling
• assaulting
• beleaguering
• laying siege to
• leaguering
• barricading
• blocking
• investing
• assailing
• besetting
• isolating
• cutting off
• confining
• damming
• insulating
• quarantining

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• releasing
• freeing
• rescuing
• liberating
• emancipating

2

as in plaguing

to cause persistent suffering to

a family besieged by worries about the faltering economy

Synonyms & Similar Words

• plaguing
• afflicting
• persecuting
• torturing
• attacking
• tormenting
• cursing
• besetting
• bothering
• bedeviling
• racking
• excruciating
• harrowing
• anguishing
• agonizing
• assailing
• troubling
• stinging
• pursuing
• harassing
• striking
• harrying
• oppressing
• hounding
• badgering
• pestering
• disturbing
• aggravating
• overwhelming
• trying
• distressing
• irritating
• annoying
• riding
• agitating
• dogging
• exasperating
• nettling
• hurting
• upsetting
• worrying
• perturbing
• bugging
• stressing
• vexing
• tyrannizing
• griping
• riling
• molesting
• stabbing
• irking
• grieving
• victimizing
• crushing
• smiting
• overpowering
• straining
• disquieting
• chafing
• galling
• discomforting
• grating
• piquing
• smarting
• flustering
• pricking
• rasping
• putting out
• getting
• paining
• wringing
• peeving
• discomposing
• hagriding
• martyring
• panging

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• assisting
• aiding
• helping
• abetting
• relieving
• delivering
• releasing
• contenting
• consoling
• comforting
• quieting
• soothing
• succoring
• reprieving
• solacing

3

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

• petitioning
• begging
• praying
• imploring
• entreating
• asking
• beseeching
• appealing (to)
• conjuring
• supplicating
• pleading (to)
• importuning
• requiring
• soliciting
• calling on
• requesting
• impetrating
• invoking
• suing
• forcing
• desiring
• coercing
• insisting
• demanding
• sponging
• claiming
• compelling
• bludging
• cadging
• commanding
• mooching

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• suggesting
• implying
• intimating
• hinting
• gratifying
• pleasing
• obliging
• satisfying
• pacifying
• appeasing
• conciliating
• comforting
• consoling
• placating
• contenting
• quieting
• mollifying

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of besieging

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

And while politicians know that there are costs to besieging an independent central bank – financial markets may react negatively or inflation may flare up – short-term control of a powerful policy tool can prove irresistible. — Ana Carolina Garriga, The Conversation, 26 Aug. 2025