bête noire

[beyt nwahr, bet nwar]

noun

plural

bêtes noires 

1. a person or thing especially disliked or dreaded; bane; bugbear.

bête noire

/ bɛt nwar /

noun

1. a person or thing that one particularly dislikes or dreads

bête noire

1. 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.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of bête noire¹

1835–45; < French: literally, black beast

Word History and Origins

Origin of bête noire¹

literally: black beast

Idioms and Phrases

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.

Example Sentences

Microplastics are the current bete noire and rightly so, but we’re still in the dark about the causal calamity of a past era’s chemical polluting.

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But others fear the fine print will include relaxing rules on the import of American food, including hormone-fed cattle and the chlorinated chicken which has become a bete noire of European critics of US big agriculture.

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But in recent months with his “This Is Gavin Newsom” podcast and its long list of Democratic bête noire guests, the governor has worked to publicly differentiate his own brand from that of his bedraggled party, one controversial interview at a time.

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Those remaining numbly reiterate the greats from "Black Mirror"’s yesteryear: “Common People” and “Bête Noire” echo themes from “Fifteen Million Merits,” “Hated in the Nation,” and “Nosedive"; “Hotel Reverie” attempts to riff on the “ghost in the machine” romance of “San Junipero"; and “Plaything” makes a muddle of “Smithereens,” “White Christmas,” and, frankly, “USS Callister” — which arguably makes it this season’s Polaris.

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When Dowd interviewed Jane Fonda in 2020, she asked the movie star/workout queen/bête noire of the right wing if she wanted to have sex with Che Guevara.

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