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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The big picture: Low turnout has been a bedeviling problem in Cleveland, where only 23% of eligible voters cast ballots in this year's primary. Sam Allard, Axios, 15 Oct. 2024 At that moment, before Surtain’s pick-six, Minshew was 9 of 9 for 115 yards, the touchdown and a pair of bedeviling first-down runs. Parker Gabriel, The Denver Post, 6 Oct. 2024 During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Soviet Union provided money and arms to the Irish Republican Army, bedeviling officials in London, who scrambled to stanch the flow. William C. Wohlforth, Foreign Affairs, 22 June 2021 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

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 21 Dec. 2024.

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