bedevil

English

Etymology

be- +‎ devil

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): [bɪˈdɛvəɫ]

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

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

Verb

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

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

   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:

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

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

Usage notes

• 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.

Translations

to harass

• French: tourmenter (fr), harceler (fr)
• German: plagen (de), heimsuchen (de)
• Italian: assillare (it), tormentare (it)
• Portuguese: atormentar (pt)
• Romanian: hărțui (ro)
• Russian: му́чить (ru) (múčitʹ), терза́ть (ru) (terzátʹ)
• Spanish: atormentar (es)

Anagrams

• b'lieved, believ'd, beviled