beleaguer

Beleaguer means to pester or badger with persistence. A babysitter might find annoying the children who beleaguer her with requests for candy, cookies, games, and piggyback rides all at the same time.

Beleaguer originally meant to lay siege to, and originates from a 16th century Dutch term which meant to camp all around. It was not until later that beleaguer came to mean harass or bother in a determined way. Remember that there is a league in the middle of be-league-r and the spelling will be easy.

Definitions of beleaguer
1

v annoy persistently

Synonyms:
badger, bug, pester, tease
Type of:
bedevil, crucify, dun, frustrate, rag, torment
treat cruelly

v surround so as to force to give up

Synonyms:
besiege, circumvent, hem in, surround
Types:
blockade, seal off
impose a blockade on
ebb
hem in fish with stakes and nets so as to prevent them from going back into the sea with the ebb
Type of:
assail, attack
launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with

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