Word.ws English Dictionary

besetting

besetting is the present participle and gerund of beset.

Adjective

besetting (comparative more besetting, superlative most besetting)

  1. Deeply rooted; persistent.
    • The first thing to bear in mind (especially if we ourselves belong to the clerico-academic-scientific type, the officially and conventionally “correct” type, “the deadly respectable” type, for which to ignore others is a besetting temptation) is that nothing can be more stupid than to bar out...1902, William James, “Lectures 4 & 5”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC
    • Rickie would not push himself. It was his besetting sin.1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, XIII [Uniform ed., p. 144]
  2. Obsessive
    • Neither were they connected with fear: he was conscious of no fear. Rather, they originated in a strange besetting desire to know what to do when the time came; a desire gigantically disproportionate to the few swift moments to which it referred; a wondering that was more like the wondering of some...1859, Charles Dickens, chapter 8, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC

Meaning of beset

Verb

beset (third-person singular simple present besets, present participle besetting, simple past and past participle beset)

  1. (transitive, literal or figurative) To assail or attack (someone) from all sides; to set about.
    • 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...1654, Edmund Gayton, Festivous notes on the history and adventures of the renowned Don Quixote
  2. (transitive) To occupy and block (an entrance, a passage, etc.), especially to prevent people from passing.
  3. (transitive, chiefly passive voice) To decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc.
  4. (archaic, transitive) 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...
  5. (archaic, transitive, chiefly passive voice) To trap (a ship) within frozen sea; to ice in.
  6. (figuratively, transitive) 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...

See all 14 meanings of beset

Noun

besetting (plural besettings)

  1. The act of one who besets or attacks.
    • I might also here tell you of the contests and battles that such are engaged in, wherein they find the besettings of Satan, above any other of the saints.1689, John Bunyan, The Jerusalem-sinner saved, or, Good news for the vilest of men being a help for despairing souls, shewing that Jesus Christ would have mercy in the first place offered to the...

Forms of besetting

Noun
pluralbesettings
Adjective
comparativemore besetting
superlativemost besetting

Origin of besetting

From beset + -ing.

Questions about besetting

What does besetting mean?
Besetting means the act of one who besets or attacks.
What is besetting the present participle and gerund of?
Besetting is the present participle and gerund of beset.
What part of speech is besetting?
Besetting can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of besetting?
The plural of besetting is besettings.

Words near besetting in the dictionary

  1. besets
  2. besetten
  3. besetter
  4. besetters
  5. besettest
  6. besetting
  7. besettings
  8. besew
  9. besews
  10. BESEX
  11. Besford

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: besetting (page history and authors); beset (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “besetting.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/besetting. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.