besiege vs assail

besiege and assail both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
besiege	No	No	Yes	No
assail	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, assail is a hypernym of besiege; that is, assail is a word with a broader meaning than besiege:

besiege: surround so as to force to give up
assail: launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with

Other hypernyms of besiege include attack.

besiege (verb)	assail (verb)
harass, as with questions or requests	attack in speech or writing
surround so as to force to give up	attack someone physically or emotionally
cause to feel distressed or worried	launch an attack or assault on; begin hostilities or start warfare with