vây hãm

Quân đội vây hãm tòa thành cổ.

Definition

1. Verb:
   • To besiege: To surround a place, especially a fortified city or military position, with armed forces in order to capture it or force surrender, typically by cutting off supplies and communication.
   • To lay siege to: To initiate and maintain a military siege against a target.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Quân đội đã vây hãm thành phố trong nhiều tháng. (The army besieged the city for many months.)
  • Pháo đài bị vây hãm và không thể nhận tiếp tế. (The fortress was laid siege to and could not receive supplies.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is primarily used in military, historical, or strategic contexts. It can be used metaphorically in modern contexts to describe being trapped or surrounded by non-military forces, though this is less common.
  • Cảm giác như những lo lắng đang vây hãm tôi. (It feels as if worries are besieging me.)

Variants and Related Words

• Sự vây hãm (n): The act or state of besieging; a siege.

  • Sự vây hãm kéo dài đã làm cạn kiệt lương thực. (The prolonged siege exhausted the food supplies.)

• Vây (v): To surround, to encircle. This is the root verb, with "hãm" adding the meaning of confinement or restraint to complete the military concept.

Synonyms

• Besiege: To surround with armed forces.
• Lay siege to: To begin a siege against.
• Encircle: To form a circle around (more general, less specific to military capture).

Related Idioms

• While "vây hãm" itself is not typically part of a common idiom, the concept is central to historical and literary descriptions of conflict.