bedevil
/bɪˈdɛv(ə)l
/verb (bedevils, bedevilling, bedevilled; US bedevils, bedeviling, bedeviled) [with object]
1(Of something bad) cause great and continual trouble to: projects like this are bedevilled by a shortage of cash...
- Treating the Universe as a hologram might solve one of the biggest problems bedeviling modern physics.
- This is the Buenos Aires I have fallen in love with, full of inconsistencies, bedeviled by its tragic circumstances.
- Legal issues continue to bedevil the e-book market.
1.1(Of a person) torment or harass: he bedevilled them with petty practical jokes...
- He can bedevil his opponent all through the February primaries and caucuses in 17 states.
- When not bedevilled by his personal demons his mind is razor-sharp and positive and he uses his cue as if it was a magician's wand.
- But the voices continued to bedevil her, and later that year she was committed to Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina.
Synonyms
afflict, torment, beset, assail, beleaguer, plague, blight, harrow, rack, oppress, harry, curse, dog;
harass, distress, trouble, worry, torture;
frustrate, annoy, vex, irritate, pester, irk, exasperate, strain
informal aggravate
Derivatives
bedevilment
/ noun ...- I guarantee that none of the lessons I've prescribed will take root; I will swear at traffic, get peeved at fellow mortals, drop off to sleep thinking about the petty bedevilments of the coming day.
- ‘The worst bedevilment of all is being in exile within one's own skin,’ he wrote.
- They did create chances, but failure to take them has been the bedevilment of their season.