Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use beset in a sentence

25 example sentences · verb

Beset means to assail or attack (someone) from all sides; to set about. Example: “We were beset by a horde of street vendors who thought we were tourists and would buy their cheap souvenirs.”

Examples of beset by meaning

verbTo assail or attack (someone) from all sides; to set about.

  • As agricultural regulatory officials, we are interested in all of the problems that beset agriculture, regardless of their nature.1929, G.H. Hecke, “Stopping the Leaks: Agricultural Cooperation, Both State and National”, in Monthly Bulletin of the Department of...

verbFollowed by with: to encircle or surround (someone or something); to hem in.

  • 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

verbOf dangers, difficulties, enemies, etc.: to negatively affect (someone or something); to trouble.

  • 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...
  • 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....

More sentences with beset

  • We were beset by a horde of street vendors who thought we were tourists and would buy their cheap souvenirs.From the entry horde
  • The present traincrew difficulties that beset the UK rail industry are neither new nor were they unforeseeable.2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32. From the entry black art
  • In this unsettling season of Coronatide we find ourselves beset by change, some welcome, some unwelcome.2021, William Franklin, “Preface: Two Movements of the Past that Inform the Future”, in C[harles] Andrew Doyle, Embodied Liturgy: Virtual…. From the entry Coronatide
  • Thrale was a prosperous brewer, but was beset by a tendency to "overbrew," which nearly ruined him.2010, Emily James Putnam, The Lady: Studies of Certain Significant Phases of Her History. From the entry overbrew
  • We know our school system is beset by mayhem and indifference.1996 February 26, Michael Tomasky, “Kids Say the Darnedest Things”, in New York Magazine. From the entry mud wrestling
  • The dangers that beset the stylometrician may be illustrated from a comparison of C.1976, Reginald Hackforth, The Authorship of the Platonic Epistles, →ISBN, page 17. From the entry stylometrician
  • Nor have they any answers for the problems that beset our world.1971, Catherine Marshall, Beyond Our Selves, page 194. From the entry rosewater philosophy
  • Where it leads, and if it's beset with "pitfall and gin", I can't say."1930, Sax Rohmer, The Day the World Ended, published 1969, page xi. 103. From the entry pitfall and gin
  • Beset on either hand by potencies greater than himself, he becomes the battle-ground of immortals.1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VIII. The Orestea: III. Eumenides”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 206. From the entry potency
  • "So you see, my dear, your father's street-arab career is beset with disappointments."1908 February 19, Jack London, The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC. From the entry street-arab
  • It should be noted that a number of difficulties beset any theory of the Thutmosid struggle.1906, James Henry Breasted, “Reign of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut”, in Ancient Records of Egypt: Historical Documents from the Earliest…. From the entry Thutmosid
  • This need to shelter the ultra rich bespeaks unacceptably high real levels of insecurity which beset the middle and working classes.2014, Andreas Daniel Fogg, Deferred Pay, Mergers and Acquisitions and Sectoral Deflation, Frame Deconstructions, →ISBN. From the entry ultra rich
  • They're beset by blennophobia, the fear of slime, and spend long hours plotting the annihilation of slugs and snails.2006, Des Kennedy, The Passionate Gardener: Adventures of an Ardent Green Thumb, Greystone Books, →ISBN, page 208. From the entry blennophobia
  • The psalm expresses security in God and gives assurance of Divine protection from dangers and calamities with which life is beset.1996, Macy Nulman, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer, page 384. From the entry antidemonic
  • In this case you're unlucky enough to be driving through a neighborhood beset by deceptive appearances, but this misluck is corrected by your just.2007, Robert C. Roberts, W. Jay Wood, Intellectual Virtues. From the entry misluck
  • Given this background, how can dwarfs, beset by beautyism, heightism, and a succession of slights, move toward positive body images and self-esteem?2005, Betty M. Adelson, The Lives of Dwarfs: Their Journey from Public Curiosity Toward Social Liberation. From the entry heightism
  • The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.1994 May 21, Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Jules Winnfield (Samuel L[eroy] Jackson). From the entry iniquity
  • The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.1994, Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson). From the entry inequities
  • Recognized to be the great conveyor of rationality, allowing reason to reach conclusions of unparalleled universality and necessity, syllogism has equally been acknowledged to be beset by limits.2006, Richard Dien Winfield, From Concept to Objectivity: Thinking Through Hegel's Subjective Logic, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., →ISBN, page…. From the entry syllogism
  • Independently of its ambitions in the R.O.K., the D.P.R.K. is beset by economic problems arising from overemphasis on heavy industry, deteriorating physical plant, and inefficient bureaucratic management.1970, Political Handbook and Atlas of the World, Council on Foreign Relations, page 190. From the entry D.P.R.K.
  • Before, somewhere and time ungraspable, blurred and beset with bewildering details, she had lain alone in bed, listening to gladsome bird voices, mingled with a sense of distressed humanity.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia…. From the entry ungraspable

Meaning of beset

  1. verb To assail or attack (someone) from all sides; to set about.
  2. verb To occupy and block (an entrance, a passage, etc.), especially to prevent people from passing.
  3. verb To decorate (someone or something) by surrounding with accessories, etc.

Full definition of beset

Questions about beset in a sentence

How do you use beset in a sentence?
Beset is used as a verb. For example: “We were beset by a horde of street vendors who thought we were tourists and would buy their cheap souvenirs.”
What is a short sentence with beset?
“We know our school system is beset by mayhem and indifference.”
What does beset mean?
Beset means to assail or attack (someone) from all sides; to set about.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: beset (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use beset in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/beset. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.