English Explanatory Dictionary

state of siege

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An exceptional legal condition in which constitutional limits on the powers of the government are suspended, usually owing to military necessity and implying martial law.

Word forms

state of siege states of siege

Etymology

Calque of French état de siège, first codified in a 1791 law of the Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution as an aggravated condition of war justifying the subordination of the civilian government to military authorities. Extended to apply to internal rebellion by a French law of 1797; subsequently broadened again in 1849 to denote any political state of emergency.

Related words

martial law state of emergency
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