bedevil

[ bih-dev-uhl ]

verb (used with object)

, be·dev·iled, be·dev·il·ing or (especially British) be·dev·illed, be·dev·il·ling.

1. to torment or harass maliciously or diabolically, as with doubts, distractions, or worries.
2. to possess, as with a devil; bewitch.
3. to cause confusion or doubt in; muddle; confound:

   an issue bedeviled by prejudices.

4. to beset or hamper continuously:

   a new building bedeviled by elevator failures.

bedevil

/ bɪˈdɛvəl /

verb

1. to harass or torment
2. to throw into confusion
3. to possess, as with a devil

Derived Forms

• beˈdevilment, noun

Other Words From

• be·devil·ment noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bedevil¹

First recorded in 1760–70; be- + devil

Example Sentences

“I think one of the difficulties is that a lot of these studies are bedeviled by problems in methods,” says Ian Mitchell, professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of Calgary in Canada.

From Time

These issues bedeviled companies back in 2018, and new data shows continued gaps between the permissions people give companies to collect and use their data and what ad tech firms actually do.

From Digiday

For more than a century, explorers who ventured into the highest mountains had been bedevilled by cases of “high altitude pneumonia,” in which young, vigorous men were struck down, often fatally, within days of arriving at altitude.

From Outside Online

The sharper protests against “toxic philanthropy” that have bedeviled the Whitney and the Museum of Modern Art aren’t discussed.

From Washington Post

A question that has long bedeviled bitcoin observers is how to value it.

From Quartz

Matthew Yglesias on how President Obama can woo back liberals, bedevil the GOP—and change the outcome this fall.

From The Daily Beast

And the rifts produced by the idea-besotted '60s continue to bedevil us.

From The Daily Beast

What's become of that little boot-black that you used to bedevil?

From Project Gutenberg

Of all the vegetables calculated to bedevil human beings, he decided, growing corn was the worst.

From Project Gutenberg

This contract in a very few years arose to bedevil the railroad situation in the North Country.

From Project Gutenberg

I've been listening to you trying to bedevil that man out there, but I'm afraid your humor is a little on the slap-stick order.

From Project Gutenberg

These miserable slaves and reptiles—mongrel Spaniards and mongrel Indians—can not very long bedevil that great country.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• annoy
• beset
• bother
• harass
• irritate
• torment