bedeviling
adjective
be·dev·il·ing
bi-ˈde-və-liŋ 
bē-
: causing trouble, distress, or confusion : vexing
a bedeviling variety of options
… space can be as bedeviling as time.—
Thomas Mallon
Thomas Mallon… the bedeviling phenomenon known as lower back pain.—Alfred Meyer
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
Joseph J. Ellis
Examples of bedeviling in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
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
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
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
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Parker Gabriel,
The Denver Post,
6 Oct. 2024
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
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
Cite this Entry
“Bedeviling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bedeviling. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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