bête noire
a person or thing especially disliked or dreaded; bane; bugbear.
Origin of bête noire
1Words Nearby bête noire
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bête noire in a sentence
The weather, being practically the bete noire of our existence, came in for a good deal of abuse.
The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas MawsonIt was a solution to her great difficulty, a loophole by which she might get rid of her bete noire, the hated Isabel.
East Lynne | Mrs. Henry WoodEven the winter snows—forever its bete noire—did not discourage him, not for long, at any rate.
The Story of the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg RailRoad | Edward HungerfordBradwood, the rival, the bete noire of the banking-house of Mortimer & Co.
The Son of Monte-Cristo, Volume I (of 2) | Alexandre Dumas preAt last I lost my bete noire, and found a place close to the door with nothing but a low pile of logs in my front.
Border and Bastille | George A. Lawrence
British Dictionary definitions for bête noire
/ French (bɛt nwar) /
a person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads
Origin of bête noire
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for bête noire
[ (bet nwahr) ]
Something or someone a person views with particular dislike: “The new candidate for governor is the bête noire of all the liberals in the state.” From French, meaning “black beast.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with bête noire
A person or thing that is particularly disliked. For example, Calculus was the bête noire of my freshman courses. This phrase, French for “black beast,” entered the English language in the early 1800s. For synonyms, see pain in the neck; thorn in one's flesh.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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