Dictionary

beset en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /bi-/ (General-American)
• (General-American) audio
• /bɪˈsɛt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /bəˈsɛt/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English besetten, bisetten (“to besiege, blockade; to fill, occupy; to harass, beset; to allot, bestow; to arrange, manage; to place, set; to provide for; to treat in a certain way”), from Old English besettan, bisettan (“to surround, beset; to set near; etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisattjan, from Proto-Germanic *bisatjaną (“to fill, occupy”), from *bi- (prefix meaning ‘at; by’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“at; near; on”)) + *satjaną (“to place down, set”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”)). By surface analysis, be- (prefix meaning ‘around; by, close to, near, next to’) + set. cognates * Danish besætte (“to occupy; obsess”) * Dutch bezetten (“to sit in; occupy; fill”) * German besetzen (“to seize; occupy; garrison”) * German Low German besetten (“to occupy”) * Saterland Frisian besätte (“to occupy”) * Swedish besätta (“to fill; occupy; beset”) * West Frisian besette (“to occupy”)

Meanings

1. (qualifier:literal or figurative, transitive) Senses relating to surrounding. ▸ To assail or attack (someone) from all sides; to set about.
   • “Nay, for matter o’ that, he never doth any mischief,” said the woman; “but to be sure it is necessary he should keep some arms for his own safety; for his house hath been beset more than once; and it is not many nights ago that we thought we heard thieves about it […] 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
   • As agricultural regulatory officials, we are interested in all of the problems that beset agriculture, regardless of their nature. We are interested in the promotion and development of more adequate scientific and economic research for agriculture. 1929, G.H. Hecke, “Stopping the Leaks: Agricultural Cooperation, Both State and National”, in Monthly Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, State of California, volume 18, California Department of Agriculture, page 601:
   • He that hath read Seneca or Boethius, is well provided against any ordinary misfortune; and to have by heart the story of Argalus and Parthenia; the dolorous madrigals of old Plangus in the Arcadia; or the history of Pyramus and Thisbe, is a never failing remedy for the mubble-fubbles: For to be acquainted with sadness, besets familiarity, and familiars never kill one another, unless the devil is in them. 1654, Edmund Gayton, Festivous notes on the history and adventures of the renowned Don Quixote:
   • It may be but an idle whim, but it has always seemed to me, that the extraordinary vacillations of movement displayed by some whales when beset by three or four boats; the timidity and liability to queer frights, so common to such whales; I think that all this indirectly proceeds from the helpless perplexity of volition, in which their divided and diametrically opposite powers of vision must involve them. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Sperm Whale’s Head”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 369:
2. (transitive) Senses relating to surrounding. ▸ To occupy and block (an entrance, a passage, etc.), especially to prevent people from passing.
3. (qualifier:chiefly passive voice, transitive) Senses relating to surrounding. ▸ To decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc.
4. (archaic, transitive) Senses relating to surrounding. ▸ Followed by with: to encircle or surround (someone or something); to hem in.
   • For thou, deere Lord, thou me besett'st; / Thy rodd and thy staff be / To comfort me: […] a. 1587 (date written), Philip Sidney, “Psalm XXIII. Dominus regit me.”, in The Psalmes of David […], London: From the Chiswick Press by C[harles] Whittingham, for Robert Triphook, […], published 1823, →OCLC, page 37:
   • Vegetatively it is the nearest to H. translucens with its oblong-lanceolate leaves, with the margins and keel beset with pellucid teeth, but it differs and is characterised by the greyish-black quadrantly positioned globose flowers; […] 1985, Charles L. Scott, The Genus Haworthia (Liliaceae): A Taxonomic Revision, page 80:
   • It was a handsome old stucco hall, very elegantly appointed, for Winter was a bachelor and prided himself on his style; but the place was beset by collieries. 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter X, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, [Germany?]: Privately printed, →OCLC, page 151:
   • Thou me beſetſt behind, before, / and laidſt thine hand on me, / Such knovvledge is for me too ſtrange, / it to attain's^([sic – meaning attainest]) too hie [high]. 1648, Zachary Boyd, “Psal[m] CXXXIX. [Verse 5.]”, in The Psalmes of David in Meeter: With the Prose Interlined, Glasgow: […] [T]he heires of George Anderson, →OCLC, signature Y2, recto:
5. (archaic, qualifier:chiefly passive voice, transitive) Senses relating to surrounding. ▸ Followed by with: to encircle or surround (someone or something); to hem in. ▸ To trap (a ship) within frozen sea; to ice in.
6. (figuratively, transitive) Senses relating to surrounding. ▸ Of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something); to trouble.
   • Fred Brentnall, in his squeaky lorikeet voice reads to the House Lawson's last two stanzas, just to highlight the danger besetting the colony of Queensland, indeed, the whole country:[…] 2006, Pip Wilson, “If Blood should Stain the Wattle”, in Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, 3rd edition, Coffs Harbour, N.S.W.: [Pip Wilson], published January 2007, →ISBN, page 147:
   • Track and platforms have been upgraded, but refurbished trains from Vivarail have been beset by software problems. 2021 July 28, Paul Clifton, “£67 million Isle of Wight Line Extension Submitted to DfT [Department for Transport]”, in Rail, number 936, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 21:
   • Some of Grimsby's other (extraordinarily up-to-date) targets include Donald Trump and Daniel Radcliffe, whose fates here are too breath-catchingly cruel to spoil, and also the admirably game Strong, whose character is beset by a constant stream of humiliations that hit with the force of a jet of … well, you'll see. 2016 February 23, Robbie Collin, “Grimsby review: ‘Sacha Baron Cohen’s vital, venomous action movie’”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Nov 2019:
   • In commercial after commercial, humans are oblivious, enfeebled, barely functioning idiots beset by more tasks, stimuli and demands on their time than anyone could reasonably handle. 2025 June 25, Ismail Muhammad, “Why Does Every Commercial for A.I. Think You’re a Moron?”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Oct 2025:
7. (archaic, often, transitive) Senses relating to surrounding. ▸ Of soldiers, etc.: to surround (a place) to compel surrender; to besiege.
8. (obsolete, transitive) Senses relating to surrounding. ▸ To capture (an animal); to ensnare, to entrap.
9. (obsolete, transitive) Senses relating to placing or setting. ▸ To arrange or set (something) in order.
10. (obsolete, transitive) Senses relating to placing or setting. ▸ To give (something); to bestow, to present.
11. (obsolete, transitive) Senses relating to placing or setting. ▸ To spend or use (something, such as effort, money, time, or words).
12. (obsolete, transitive) Senses relating to placing or setting. ▸ Followed by on or upon: to place or set (love, trust, etc.) on someone.
13. (obsolete, transitive) Senses relating to being appropriate. ▸ To be appropriate or fitting for (something); to become, to befit.
14. (intransitive, obsolete) Senses relating to being appropriate. ▸ Followed by with: to accord or go well with something.

Forms

Antonyms

unbeset

Deriveds

unbeset · besetting sin · umbeset · besetter · besetment · besetting

Synonyms

harry · beleaguer · bait · beset · pick at · umbeset · bebay · bedevil · chevy · devil · plague · environ · besiege · bullyrag · give someone grief · hound · bejewel · bug · bespangle · vex · bebay · umbeset · inbind · badger · beleaguer · dog · inbind · harass · pester · bedazzle · persecute · environ

Translations (76)

fi juuttua jäihin (to trap (a ship) within frozen sea) · cmn 封堵 (to occupy and block (an entrance, a passage, etc.), especially to prevent people from passing) · es circundar (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · cmn 堵塞 (to occupy and block (an entrance, a passage, etc.), especially to prevent people from passing) · ru тесни́ть (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · ca assetjar (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · cs soužit (of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something)) · fi piirittää (of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something)) · fi käydä päälle joka suunnasta (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · ru потесни́ть pf or стесни́ть (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · mk о́пколи (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · es sitiar (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · es asediar (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · fi haitata (of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something)) · ru осажда́ть (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · it incagliare (to trap (a ship) within frozen sea) · it assediare (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · cs obklopit (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · uk прикра́сити pf or прикраси́ти (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · ru укра́сить (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · uk оточи́ти (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · et ümber piirama (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · ru потесни́ть pf or стесни́ть (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · fi piirittää (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · uk оздобля́ти (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · la circumsedeo (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · uk ото́чувати (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · ru осади́ть (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · it assaltare (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · ru тесни́ть (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · uk прикраша́ти (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · mk за́мрзне (to trap (a ship) within frozen sea) · uk обляга́ти (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · mi karapoti (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · cmn 圍攻 /围攻 (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · uk ото́чувати (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · ar اِكْتَنَفَ (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · ru осади́ть (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · mk у́краси (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · fi ahdistaa (of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something)) · ru осажда́ть (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · fi koristella (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · fi saartaa (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · uk оздо́блювати (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · cs sužovat (of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something)) · ru украша́ть (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · bg обсаждам (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · uk оздо́бити (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · fi tukkia (to occupy and block (an entrance, a passage, etc.), especially to prevent people from passing) · uk обсіда́ти (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · cs obsadit (to occupy and block (an entrance, a passage, etc.), especially to prevent people from passing) · cs napadnout (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · mk о́псади (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · es circuir (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · cs tísnit (of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something)) · sv ansätta (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · mk о́пкружи (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · cs obklopovat (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · cs trápit (of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something)) · fi piirittää (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · it circondare (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · it incastonare (to decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc. — see also decorate) · mi popoke (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · uk оточи́ти (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · cs zaútočit (ze všech stran) (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · fi painaa (of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something)) · mi pūrau (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · mi popoti (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · fi rasittaa (of dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something)) · bg обкръжавам (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · cs obklíčit (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · es cercar (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · sv anfäkta (to assail or attack (someone) from all sides) · pt cercar (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · ro împresura (to encircle or surround (someone or something)) · es sitiar (to encircle or surround (someone or something))