No, to belittle has nothing to do with either scolding or vehemence. Quizmaster was correct.
However, I struggled to insert besuddle in four different spellings; in my mind this fits definition for contaminate, pollute; perhaps even more closely than befoul.
Is it bad that I got about half these words without looking at the clues? I just thought of as many words as I could beforehand that had be- as a prefix and a lot of them were on here. Good quiz though
I'd never heard that word until it appeared on this site, but since then I've heard it numerous times on TV - they were mostly British shows, but not all of them. I looked it up on Wikipedia and it supports my experience. In America we used the word custom rather than bespoke, but its usage has increased in the 21st century, mostly for marketing everything from water to yoga to insurance policies. According to William Safire it's due to the "snob appeal" of the word, and an article in The Independent says it's all about the new American thing of setting one's self apart rather than being part of the collective. I find it interesting that a single, borrowed word can represent a new direction or thinking for a large group of people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bespoke
Same as bequeath. Bequest is still used sometimes in will writing for the giving of personal property. I'd say Bequest is a noun and bequeath is a verb.
Ok, bestow does have to be from somebody that dies I guess. Maybe besotten is a good one for the quiz? First thing that came to mind, eventhough I had no idea what it meant. (I do now, I guess it comes from the same root as verzot ((be)-sotten (ver)-zot). And maybe even bezatten is related, but has a bit different meaning)
However, I struggled to insert besuddle in four different spellings; in my mind this fits definition for contaminate, pollute; perhaps even more closely than befoul.
Please don't belittle me if I am wrong.
Bespoke suit vs custom car, for example
As a couple Bears new youngsters into their family?