bedevil

From be- + devil.

• (UK) IPA^(key): [bɪˈdɛvəɫ]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /bɪˈdɛvəl/, /biˈdɛvəl/

bedevil (third-person singular simple present bedevils, present participle (US) bedeviling or (UK) bedevilling, simple past and past participle (US) bedeviled or (UK) bedevilled)

1. To harass or cause trouble for; to plague.

   Synonyms: disturb, molest, pester; see also Thesaurus:annoy, Thesaurus:pester

   Guerrilla attacks continued to bedevil the larger army's supply routes.

   • 1988 December 19, William Styron, “Why Primo Levi Need Not Have Died”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 29 August 2022:

     Mr. Levi may have been bedeviled by buried conflicts unrelated to Auschwitz.

   • 2010 March 19, Joseph Berger, “How to Say Theater in Yiddish? Two Ways”, in The New York Times‎^[2], archived from the original on 11 June 2019:

     Such amity is no small thing. The narrowing world of Yiddish theater has been bedeviled with one “broyges — a cherished term for a falling out — after another

   • 2013, Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto V, scene: The Third Way:

     Michael De Santa (Ned Luke): You know, Devin [Devin Winston], the way I see it, and hey, I'm no intelligent businessman like you, but the way I see it, there's two great evils that bedevil American capitalism of the type that you practice.

2. To perplex or bewilder.

   Synonyms: befuddle, bemuse; see also Thesaurus:confuse

3. (originally) To possess (someone's mind).

   Synonym: bodyjack

• The spellings bedeviling and bedeviled are preferred in the US, while bedevilling and bedevilled are preferred in the UK. However, the choice of spellings is not universal.

• b'lieved, believ'd, beviled