bête noire

American  

[beyt nwahr, bet nwar] / ˌbeɪt ˈnwɑr, bɛt ˈnwar /

noun

plural

bêtes noires

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

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bête noire British  

/ bɛt nwar /

noun

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

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bête noire Cultural  

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.”

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bête noire Idioms  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of bête noire

1835–45; < French: literally, black beast

Example Sentences

But it remains a bête noire for critics of mass incarceration.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 30, 2024

They are the bête noire of many nutritionists - mass-produced yet moreish foods like chicken nuggets, packaged snacks, fizzy drinks, ice cream or even sliced brown bread.

From BBC • Jul. 27, 2024

Yet the resources and chemicals needed for pristine emerald turf have made the sport an environmentalists’ bête noire.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 18, 2024

Medellín Legorreta’s personal bête noire is the Maya Train, a $30 billion rail line and tourism project in the Yucatán Peninsula championed by López Obrador as a bonanza for an impoverished region.

From Science Magazine • Oct. 11, 2023

It had been our bête noire from the time five dollars and fifty cents ransomed it at Shasta.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 81, July, 1864 by Various