bugbear

See also: bug-bear

English

WOTD – 1 October 2025

Alternative forms

Etymology

From obsolete meaning of bug (“something terrifying”) +‎ bear.[1][2] See Middle English bugge, modern bogey.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈbʌɡ.bɛə(ɹ)/, /ˈbʌɡ.bɛː(ɹ)/, enPR: bŭg′-bâr
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈbʌɡ.bɛɚ/, enPR: bŭg′-bâr
  • Audio (General American):(file)

Noun

bugbear (plural bugbears)

  1. An ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.
    Synonym: pet peeve
    • 1940 November, O. S. M. Raw, “The Rhodesia Railways—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 592:
      Stone ballast is now used throughout the main line, and has the additional advantage of eliminating the previous bugbear of dust.
    • 1962 January, “Talking of Trains: Hull's level crossing problem”, in Modern Railways, page 10:
      Level crossings are the bugbear of railway operation at Hull. There are no fewer than 16 within the city boundary.
    • 2021 December 18, “The billionaire battle for the metaverse”, in The Economist‎[1], London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 December 2021:
      Next, they operate in constrained worlds. Apple is a particular bugbear for Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Sweeney.
  2. A source of dread; resentment; or irritation. [from late 16th c.]
    Synonyms: anathema, antipathy, bête noire
    • 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:
      What has this Bugbear Death to frighten Man,
      If Souls can die, as well as Bodies can?
    • 1738, Alexander Pope, Epistle I of the First Book of Horace; to Lord Bolingbroke:
      But, to the world no bugbear is so great
      As want of figure and a small estate.
    • 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC:
      What have I done to be made a bugbear of, and to be shunned and dreaded as if I brought the plague?
    • 2025 December 28, Viv Groskop, “The hill I will die on: Faux Cyrillic is a load of old crдp”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 February 2026:
      One of the worst bugbears to possess is one that is shared by hardly anyone else.
  3. (folklore, fantasy) A generic creature, often described as a large goblin, meant to inspire fear in children.
    Synonyms: bogeyman, bogey, bug-a-boo, bugaboo
    Coordinate terms: specter, spook, troll; see also Thesaurus:ghost

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

bugbear (third-person singular simple present bugbears, present participle bugbearing, simple past and past participle bugbeared)

  1. (transitive) To alarm with idle phantoms. (clarification of this definition is needed)

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “bugbear”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ “bugbear”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

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