bogeyman

American  

[boog-ee-man, boh-gee-, boo-] / ˈbʊg iˌmæn, ˈboʊ gi-, ˈbu- /

South Midland and Southern U.S., boogeyman or bogyman

noun

• bogeymen
  plural

1. an imaginary evil character of supernatural powers, especially a mythical hobgoblin supposed to carry off naughty children.

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bogeyman British  

/ ˈbəʊɡɪˌmæn /

noun

1. a person, real or imaginary, used as a threat, esp to children

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bogeymen
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bogeyman

First recorded in 1885–90; bogey ¹ (variant of bogy ¹, in the sense “a hobgoblin, evil spirit”) + man

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bogeyman bogeymen

The world-ending A.I. bogeyman becomes even less believable when the warnings are placed in proper context.

From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026

He embraced the role of migra bogeyman like a tween boy scarfing down a bowl of Warheads, always promising more deportations, more chaos, more more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026

“Uber is no longer the bogeyman it was,” said McNamara.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025

Keith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power, says: "The government has taken on the planning bogeyman to unlock growth and get us building. That's why the UK is now Iberdrola's biggest investment destination globally."

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2025

Two carefully watches the bushes along the sidewalk for a lurking bogeyman or worse.

From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

Still, Kimmel’s comment was at worst an anodyne observation touching on the fact that the accused, a white guy from Utah, did not fit the archetypes of typical far-right bogeymen.

From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2025

But that angst can be projected onto bogeymen.

From Salon ● May 8, 2023

And none of this implicates the usual bogeymen of the housing crisis, the big housebuilding companies.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 19, 2019

But is this a case of seeing Russian bogeymen where there are none?

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2018

“I rode hyenas after dark! I made chidoma, bogeymen, out of dead bodies! I caused Chipo to have twins! Augh! Augh!”

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

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