bedeviling

adjective

be·​dev·​il·​ing bi-ˈde-və-liŋ How to pronounce bedeviling (audio)
bē-
: causing trouble, distress, or confusion : vexing
a bedeviling variety of options
… space can be as bedeviling as time.Thomas Mallon
… the bedeviling phenomenon known as lower back pain.Alfred Meyer
bedevilingly adverb
… had developed a keen sense of how bedevilingly hard it was to control the boisterous energies released by the American Revolution. Joseph J. Ellis

Examples of bedeviling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web On the verge of victory against their most bedeviling of rivals, UCLA had suffered a 79-76 loss to end their real national title hopes with the rerun of a heartbreak. Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 23 Mar. 2023 Such loss is bedeviling. Drea Brown Zócalo Public Square, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 June 2020 Rachel Pope, of Liverpool, took to Twitter in late March 2020 to describe her bedeviling symptoms, then unnamed, after a coronavirus infection. Lindsey Tanner, Chicago Tribune, 26 Dec. 2022 In recent years, there was the brief but bedeviling matter of packages disappearing from front porches. Dugan Arnett, BostonGlobe.com, 14 Dec. 2022 Now those problems are increasingly bedeviling once-affordable towns and cities across the U.S., a new study finds. Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 22 July 2022 One of the bedeviling aspects of the drought is how having access to water doesn’t necessarily mean it can be used. Chloe Sorvino, Forbes, 21 Apr. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bedeviling.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1881, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bedeviling was in 1881

Dictionary Entries Near bedeviling

Cite this Entry

“Bedeviling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bedeviling. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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