bedevil > define

verb

• Treat cruelly.
  • usage: "The children tormented the stuttering teacher"
  • synonyms: torment, rag, crucify, dun, frustrate
• Be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly.
  • usage: "These questions confuse even the experts"; "This question completely threw me"; "This question befuddled even the teacher"
  • synonyms: confuse, throw, fox, befuddle, fuddle, confound, discombobulate

• (v.t.) To spoil; to corrupt.
• (v.t.) To throw into utter disorder and confusion, as if by the agency of evil spirits; to bring under diabolical influence; to torment.