SIEGE
What does "SIEGE" mean?
A military operation in which forces surround a fortified place to force its surrender.
Meanings
- The surrounding and blockading of a town or fortress by an army to cut it off and compel surrender. The city endured a two-year siege before its walls finally fell.
- Any prolonged, persistent ordeal or pressure. After weeks of bad news, the family felt under siege. figurative
Did you know?
- A 'siege' literally means a 'sitting down' - from Latin 'sedere' - because the besieging army simply sat outside the walls and waited the defenders into starvation.
Word origin
From Old French 'sege' (a seat, a sitting down before a town), from Latin 'sedere' (to sit); a siege is literally an army sitting down to wait a city out.
Remember it
SIEGE follows 'i before e' and means to sit ('sedere') outside a wall.
A little poem
No charge, no clash of steel today-
the army only sits, and waits, and stays.
Hunger is the cheapest weapon ever made.
tercet
Wordplay
- Why did the besieging army bring chairs? Because a siege is just a very long sit-in - the Latin says so.
What it teaches
Patience can breach a wall that no battering ram could: time besieges everything.
Quick facts
What does SIEGE mean?
A military operation in which forces surround a fortified place to force its surrender.
Is SIEGE a valid word?
Yes — SIEGE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is SIEGE?
SIEGE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does SIEGE come from?
From Old French 'sege' (a seat, a sitting down before a town), from Latin 'sedere' (to sit); a siege is literally an army sitting down to wait a city out.
What can SIEGE teach us?
Patience can breach a wall that no battering ram could: time besieges everything.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.