hobgoblin

noun

hob·gob·lin ˈhäb-ˌgäb-lən

Synonyms of hobgoblin next

: a mischievous goblin

: bogey sense 2, bugaboo

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What's the difference between a goblin and a hobgoblin?

While a goblin is often portrayed in folklore as a grotesque, evil, and malicious creature, a hobgoblin tends to traffic more in mischief than malice. (The character Puck in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream might be regarded as a hobgoblin.) First appearing in English in the early 16th century, hobgoblin combined hob, a word meaning "sprite" or "elf" that derived from Hobbe, a nickname for Robert, with goblin a word ultimately from the Greek word kobalos, meaning "rogue." American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson famously applied the word's extended sense in his essay Self-Reliance: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

Examples of hobgoblin in a Sentence

intimidated by the hobgoblins of etiquette in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck is a hobgoblin who plays pranks such as spoiling milk and tripping old ladies

Recent Examples on the Web

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Sailing teaches us that being an honorable competitor is more important than being a top competitor because while every race is there to lose, luck is the omnipresent hobgoblin. —

Conor Mastromarco, Baltimore Sun, 18 Nov. 2024 Gleeson’s Puck is a malevolent hobgoblin who serves as the royal jester to King Auberon of Faerie. —

Denise Petski, Deadline, 2 July 2024 Sightings of the mythical Nain Rouge, a red hobgoblin or dwarf that appears on the eve of tragedy, date to Detroit's origin — and locals have reclaimed the spirit with an annual march to scare the demon away, according to tradition. —

Detroit Free Press, 24 Mar. 2024 As Ralph Waldo Emerson might have said in an essay of the same name (and did), a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds; Tommy seems to feel his brain shrinking along with his life. —

John Anderson, WSJ, 9 Jan. 2024 See all Example Sentences for hobgoblin