beset
v.to cause someone or something to have a lot of problems or difficulties. It often describes a situation where trouble seems to come from every side.
v.to trouble or harass persistently; to surround or hem in with problems. Often used in the passive voice to describe a subject overwhelmed by challenges.
“The project is beset by many technical problems.”
“The small island nation was beset by economic instability and rising sea levels throughout the decade.”
“Even the most promising startups can find themselves beset by unforeseen regulatory hurdles and aggressive competition from established industry giants.”
Commonly used in the passive form 'to be beset by' or 'to be beset with'.
Beset is typically followed by the prepositions 'by' or 'with', not 'from'.
“Over the past 20 years, more than 400,000 farmers have killed themselves , beset by mounting debts and low market prices for crops.”
“Elias is beset by fears, both in his rebellious brain and his warring parents’ home.”
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”)
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.