embattled — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Armed or prepared for battle (literally or figuratively).

   Examples

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   If you knevv hovv ſtrong and full of ſtratagems the diuel vvere, vvith hovve many Legions of luſtfull deſires he commeth embattailed againſt you: vvhat ſecrete ambuſhes of temptations he hath layde to intrappe you, then vvoulde you gather your ſelues into one bodie to reſiſt him: […]

   O Prince, O Chief of many Throned Powers, / That led th' imbattelld Seraphim to Warr / Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds / Fearleſs, endanger'd Heav'ns perpetual King; […]

   I fight vvith Hector and his hoſt, alone, / Left, hemm'd around by multitudes, I fall; / For Hector, by his vvhole imbattled force / Attended, comes.

   [T]he imperial city stood released / From bondage threatened by the embattled East, […]

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   [Christoph] Meiners has gone so far as to suppose a real confederacy to have been formed […] to overthrow, by means of this controversy, the embattled legions of ignorance.

2. Of a place: occupied or surrounded by armed troops (also figuratively).

   Examples

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   The Element euery night vvas embattailed vvith Armed men, skyrmiſhing and conflicting amongſt themeſlues; and the imperiall Eagles of Rome, vvere plainly there diſplayed to all mens ſight.

3. Of a place: strengthened so as to withstand attacks; fortified.

   Examples

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   [N]o ſubject can build a caſtle, or houſe of ſtrength imbatteled, or other fortreſs defenſible, vvithout the licence of the king; for the danger vvhich might enſue, if every man at his pleaſure might do it.

4. Subject to or troubled by attacks, controversy, or pressure.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Synonyms

   assailedthreatened

   Examples

   Now finding herself under rapid and accurate fire from the Alabama and Washington, Nagato is embattled, whilst Yamato has to switch to partially engage Iowa.

Adjective

1. Of a fortress or other building, a wall, etc.: having battlements or crenellations; battlemented, crenellated.

   Examples

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   The lofty towers of the Castle overhang the western approach to the Bridge, and the line passes into Conway through an opening pierced in the embattled wall, which entirely surrounds the town. These fortifications are in good preservation, and rank among the most perfect examples of the strongholds of the thirteenth century.

2. Having an upper edge or outline of alternating square indentations and extensions like battlements, unless the embattled item is a pale, cross or saltire, in which case it has the crenelations on all sides.

   Usage

   • broadly

   Synonyms

   crénelé

   Examples

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   Argent, a Feſs embattled and tvvo Eſtoils in Chief, Sable, is born by the Name of Tvvyne, and vvas atteſted to belong (and vvas confirm'd) to Tvvyne of Preſton in the County of Lancaſter, Eſquire, […]

   All theſe bearings have different Epithets, ſerving either to expreſs their Poſition, Diſpoſition, or Make, viz. […] Tovvers covered, embattled, &c. […]

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   There are but three irregular lines mentioned in Glover's Roll, viz: 1. Undée (ondée) or wavy, 2. Engrailed, and 3. Indented or Dancettée. Later heralds have added three more: Invecked (the exact converse of Engrailed), Nebulée, and Embattled.

Adjective

1. (of a person) beset by difficulties or conflict

   Examples

   the state legislature called for the embattled governor's resignation

2. prepared for battle

   Examples

   an embattled city

3. having or resembling repeated square indentations like those in a battlement

   Synonyms

   battlementedcastledcastellatedcrenelated

   Examples

   a crenelated molding