beleaguer
Surround and trouble
To beleaguer is to surround with hostile forces or to harass persistently.
The military sense—besieging a city or fortress—is older but now rare: The beleaguered garrison held out for months.
The figurative sense dominates: beleaguered by creditors, a beleaguered politician facing scandal.
A beleaguered person or institution is under sustained pressure from multiple directions.
Persistent apprehensive distress
- pressureForce upon contact
- strainExcessive stretching force
- distressSevere anxiety or suffering
- burnoutChronic occupational depletion
exhaustion · fatigue · tension · turmoil · agitation · burdened · taxed · frazzled
Annoy with persistence
- badgerNag persistently
- houndHunting dog breed
- tormentSevere prolonged suffering
- persecuteHarass cruelly, persistently
beset · plague · bully · nag · heckle · intimidate · annoy · provoke
Sealing off a place
- encirclementSurrounding enemy forces completely
- surroundEnclose on every side
- assaultViolent offensive act
- fortificationStrengthening defenses or nutrients
barricade · trenches · artillery · siegecraft · entrenchment · catapult · sappers · breach
anxiety
Persistent apprehensive distress
burnout · exhaustion · fatigue · tension · turmoil · agitation · burdened · taxed · frazzled · haggard
pester
Annoy with persistence
persecute · beset · plague · bully · nag · heckle · intimidate · annoy · provoke · antagonize
blockade
Sealing off a place
- encirclementSurrounding enemy forces completely
- surroundEnclose on every side
- assaultViolent offensive act
fortification · barricade · trenches · artillery · siegecraft · entrenchment · catapult · sappers · breach · sortie
inundate
Overwhelm with excess
- swampWaterlogged land with vegetation
- delugeSevere overflow of water
- overrunSpread throughout uncontrollably
beset · bombard · flood · engulf · overpower · overload · burden · besieged · swamped · drowning