bugaboo
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bugaboo
Explanation
Use the noun bugaboo to describe something that causes worry, like the bugaboo of having three tests on the same day at school. Bugaboo is also another name for the creature known as the bogeyman, an imaginary monster that children believe will hurt them or even take them away if they don't behave. Some usage experts trace bugaboo to Scotland, where the now-obsolete word bogill meant "goblin, bugbear." A bugbear, in the 1580 coining of the word, was a demon that looked like a bear and ate small children.
Vocabulary lists containing bugaboo
Beowulf: A New Telling
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The Testaments
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But the latest bugaboo from the banking lobby is the possibility of other companies rewarding customers for using stablecoins.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025
And despite getting Anthony Rizzo to pop up for the second out, the long-ball bugaboo bit him against Volpe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2024
“That first inning has been my bugaboo in my career,” Irvin said.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 17, 2022
So I thought, well, when I write my book, I’m gonna take the bugaboo out of Chinese cooking and demystify it.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 22, 2022
Here’s another bugaboo that English teachers used to get worked up over.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
But the real bugaboos in fixed income are volatility, stubborn inflation, and higher interest rates.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
But they really seem sincere about their bugaboos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
And there's an intelligence in that rendering, as if she admirably recognizes that she doesn't want her kids to inherit her bugaboos.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2023
So many of our growing cultural bugaboos came to a head in our reckoning with Fauci.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2022
His character was philosophic, his imagination calm; no bugaboos came to trouble him.
From Penrod and Sam by Tarkington, Booth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
