embattled Hear it!

embattled Definition

em·bat·tled (em bat′'ld)

adjective

  1. prepared or arrayed for battle
  2. engaged in a battle, conflict, or controversy
  3. being subjected to attack, criticism, etc.

embattled Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

  • increasingly: As the state became increasingly embattled, so its appeals to national identity inevitably reflected the imperial and centralizing mission of the state.

Modifies a noun

  • parapet: There is an embattled parapet around the slate roof.
  • tower: It has an embattled western tower, with spire containing five bells.
  • minority: All this has made our " embattled minority " self-image more difficult to maintain.
  • minister: Friday, 05 November 2004 Kate Ward has an afternoon meeting with the embattled minister Geoff Hoon, and comes away a little nervous.
  • wall: Upon its embattled walls floated the national colors of Russia.
  • city: Not about the barricades that bristled all over the embattled city.

Used with adjective complement

  • feel: It is not only church liberals who have felt embattled over recent decades.
  • become: Barbara Castle and Jim Callaghan handled the 1968 Donovan Report so disastrously, and the government became embattled with the trade unions.