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siege

[ seej ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the act or process of surrounding and attacking a fortified place in such a way as to isolate it from help and supplies, for the purpose of lessening the resistance of the defenders and thereby making capture possible.
any prolonged or persistent effort to overcome resistance.
a series of illnesses, troubles, or annoyances besetting a person or group:
a siege of head colds.
a prolonged period of trouble or annoyance.
Also Ornithology.
1. a flock of herons.
2. the station of a heron at prey.
the shelf or floor of a glassmaking furnace on which the glass pots are set.
Obsolete.
1. a seat, especially one used by a person of distinction, as a throne.
2. station as to rank or class.

verb (used with object)

sieged, sieging.

to assail or assault; besiege.

siege

/ ��ː�� /

noun

1. the offensive operations carried out to capture a fortified place by surrounding it, severing its communications and supply lines, and deploying weapons against it
2. ( as modifier )
  siege warfare
a persistent attempt to gain something
a long tedious period, as of illness, etc
obsolete.
a seat or throne
lay siege to
to besiege

verb

tr to besiege or assail

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Other Word Forms

��𲵱�a·�� adjective
�ܲ�·��𲵱�� adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of siege¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; (noun) Middle English sege, from Old French: “seat,” noun derivative of siegier, from unattested Vulgar Latin ��徱�� “to set,” derivative of Latin ��ŧ�� “to sit” ( sit ¹ ); (verb) Middle English segen, derivative of the noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of siege¹

C13: from Old French sege a seat, from Vulgar Latin ��ŧ�徱�� (unattested) to sit down, from Latin ��ŧ��

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

lay siege to, to besiege:
The army laid siege to the city for over a month.

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Synonym Study

Siege, blockade are terms for prevention of free movement to or from a place during wartime. Siege implies surrounding a city and cutting off its communications, and usually includes direct assaults on its defenses. Blockade is applied more often to naval operations that block all commerce, especially to cut off food and other supplies from defenders.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

DUP MP Gregory Campbell said the elderly residents of Alexander House feel they are "under siege" every time there is trouble nearby.

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Thousands found themselves waiting and waiting for alerts and evacuation updates, even as their neighborhoods came under siege.

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Hafiza's home is the last major city controlled by the military in Sudan's western region of Darfur, and has been under siege by the RSF for the past 12 months.

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El-Fasher is the last major town in Darfur under army control and has been under siege by the RSF for a year.

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They claimed to be from the port city, captured by the Russians in May 2022 after a bloody siege that left it in ruins.

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Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Siegbahn siege mentality

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