- a variation of bogeyman.
boogeyman
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of boogeyman
First recorded in 1840–50
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:
Artificial intelligence could be the boogeyman that gnaws at market share.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
And it would give the Bills another chance to really get over their boogeyman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025
Was Deen really an early victim of the fictitious celebrity boogeyman now known as “cancel culture,” or was she appropriately harangued?
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2025
With Moses as boogeyman, we are spared the more challenging question: Why did his worst decisions seem like such great ideas to so many people in the first place?
From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2024
Vonetta didn’t notice, or she pretended she didn’t notice, but Fern had stopped clinging to Uncle D. Fern heard him hollering at night like the boogeyman howling and rattling in the radiator pipes.
From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia
I mean that AI now sits squarely atop the pile of modern parents’ anxieties, having rapidly eclipsed boogeymen like screen time and social media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
He’s the only character who seems to like dinosaurs — everyone else sees them as dollar signs or boogeymen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2025
What we do not enjoy, however, is the pesky presence of well-known boogeymen like raw egg and flour, which are obviously not two items that should be eaten with such vigor.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2023
They’re also conjuring boogeymen, even though the real culprits are tech giants.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2022
He needs as many boogeymen and vanquished foes as he can conjure.
From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2020
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.
