bugaboo
/ˈbʌɡəbuː/
bugaboo is the alternative spelling of bug-a-boo.
Meaning of bug-a-boo
Noun
bug-a-boo (plural bug-a-boos)
- A mythical, nocturnal creature; a hobgoblin.
- The German ubu, as well as the French bibou, is also used for bug-a-boo, hobgoblin, or any other fantastical, terrific nocturnal object.1776, William Kenrick, London review of English and foreign literature, page 316
- Synonyms:
- goblin
- Any imagined fear or threat, or a fear presumed larger than it really is.
- ...a fear had come upon them, and they had a kind of bug-a-boo terror about roving gangsters.1949, – George R. Stewart, Earth Abides, page 80
Forms of bugaboo
| plural | bugaboos |
|---|
Questions about bugaboo
- What is bugaboo the alternative spelling of?
- Bugaboo is the alternative spelling of bug-a-boo.
- How do you pronounce bugaboo?
- Bugaboo is pronounced /ˈbʌɡəbuː/.
Words near bugaboo in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bugaboo (page history and authors); bug-a-boo (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bugaboo.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bugaboo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bugaboo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.