beleaguer

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 7, 2025 is:

beleaguer • \bih-LEE-gur\ • verb

To beleaguer a person, business, etc. is to cause them constant or repeated trouble. Beleaguer is also sometimes used as a synonym of besiege.

// The coach, beleaguered by the media and fans for his poor decision-making during games, has been fired.

// The novel is set in a city beleaguered by military forces.

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Examples:

"... Mono Lake, beleaguered by three years of drought, is expected to rise by several feet, a welcome reprieve as the lake has struggled to reach target levels." — Evan Bush, NBC News, 6 June 2023

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."