bedevil
English edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
bedevil (third-person singular simple present bedevils, present participle bedeviling or bedevilling, simple past and past participle bedeviled or bedevilled)
- To harass or cause trouble for; to plague.
- Guerrilla attacks continued to bedevil the larger army's supply routes.
- 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.
- To perplex or bewilder.
- (originally) To possess (someone's mind).
Usage notes edit
- 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 edit
to harass
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