bugbear
/ˈbʌɡ.bɛə(ɹ)//ˈbʌɡ.bɛɚ/
bugbear noun: an ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.
Noun
bugbear (plural bugbears)
- An ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.
- Stone ballast is now used throughout the main line, and has the additional advantage of eliminating the previous bugbear of dust.1940 November, O. S. M. Raw, “The Rhodesia Railways—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 592
- Level crossings are the bugbear of railway operation at Hull. There are no fewer than 16 within the city boundary.1962 January, “Talking of Trains: Hull's level crossing problem”, in Modern Railways, page 10
- Synonyms:
- pet peeve
- A source of dread; resentment; or irritation.
- What has this Bugbear Death to frighten Man,
If Souls can die, as well as Bodies can?1709, John Dryden, "Lucretius: A Poem against the Fear of Death" (lines 1-2), published in a pamphlet of the same name with an Ode in Memory of Mrs. Ann Killebrew - But, to the world no bugbear is so great
As want of figure and a small estate.1738, Alexander Pope, Epistle I of the First Book of Horace; to Lord Bolingbroke
- Synonyms:
- anathema, antipathy, bête noire
- What has this Bugbear Death to frighten Man,
- A generic creature, often described as a large goblin, meant to inspire fear in children.
- Ha, ha: alas poore wretch: a poore Chipochia, haſt not ſlept to night? would he not (a naughty man) let it ſleepe: a bug-beare take him.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- “How could you lie so glaringly as to affirm I hated the ‘poor child’? and invent bugbear stories to terrify her from my door-stones?[…]”1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XXII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC
Verb
bugbear (third-person singular simple present bugbears, present participle bugbearing, simple past and past participle bugbeared)
bugbear meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
bugbear in Hindi
- bugbear, a scary figure or voice to frighten children
- लूलू lūlū
bugbear in Tamil
- imaginary creature
- பூச்சாண்டி pūccāṇṭi
bugbear in Urdu
- ہوا
bugbear in Malayalam
- bete noire, pet hate, bogey
- ശല്യകാരണം, നിഷ്കാരണഭയം ഉളവാക്കുന്നവസ്തു, തീരെ ഇഷ്ടമില്ലാത്ത വസ്തു, തീരെ ഇഷ്ടമില്ലാത്ത വസ്തു ആൾ, കണ്ണെടുത്താൽ കണ്ടുകൂടാത്തത്, തീരെ ഇഷ്ടപ്പെടാൻ കഴിയാത്ത ആൾ
More languagesFewer languages
- bugbear in Kannada
- ಗುಮ್ಮ
- bugbear in Gujarati
- હાઉ hāu
Examples of bugbear in a sentence
- Apple is a particular bugbear for Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Sweeney.2021 December 18, “The billionaire battle for the metaverse”, in The Economist, →ISSN:
- What have I done to be made a bugbear of, and to be shunned and dreaded as if I brought the plague?1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC:
- The partisans of the Administration object to the word “imperialism,” calling it a mere bugbear having no real existence.1900, Carl Schurz, For Truth, Justice and Liberty:
Synonyms of bugbear
Forms of bugbear
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bugbears |
| alternative form | bug-bear |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bugbears |
| present participle | bugbearing |
| past participle | bugbeared |
| past | bugbeared |
Origin of bugbear
From obsolete meaning of bug (“something terrifying”) + bear. See Middle English bugge, modern bogey.
Words formed from bugbear
Questions about bugbear
- What does bugbear mean?
- Bugbear means an ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.
- What is bugbear in Hindi?
- Bugbear in Hindi is लूलू (lūlū). See Bugbear meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use bugbear in a sentence?
- Apple is a particular bugbear for Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Sweeney.
- What part of speech is bugbear?
- Bugbear can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce bugbear?
- Bugbear is pronounced /ˈbʌɡ.bɛə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bugbear?
- The plural of bugbear is bugbears.
Words near bugbear in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bugbear (page history and authors); लूलू (Hindi) (page history and authors); bugbear (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bugbear (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); bugbear (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); હાઉ (Gujarati) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bugbear.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-bugbear.wav.
Cite this entry: “bugbear.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bugbear. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.