as in dread
something or someone that causes fear or dread especially without reason
doing one's tax returns is a real bugaboo for a lot of people
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Recent Examples of bugaboo
Carbon Dioxide is often vilified as a bugaboo greenhouse gas.
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Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024
In this innovative and original home, the most surprising room of all may be on the top floor, a studio/guest room/sauna where that old bugaboo of knotty pine is raised to new heights of chic, giving it the feel and fragrance of a Swiss ski chalet.
—Michael Boodro, Architectural Digest, 9 Sep. 2024
There's one bugaboo, however: The devices ship with Android 14 rather than Android 15.
—Iyaz Akhtar, PCMAG, 13 Aug. 2024
Speech delays There weren’t teleprompter flubs or wardrobe malfunctions, but getting access to one’s acceptance speech turned out to be the biggest bugaboo of the show.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 17 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for bugaboo 
Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024
In this innovative and original home, the most surprising room of all may be on the top floor, a studio/guest room/sauna where that old bugaboo of knotty pine is raised to new heights of chic, giving it the feel and fragrance of a Swiss ski chalet.
—Michael Boodro, Architectural Digest, 9 Sep. 2024
There's one bugaboo, however: The devices ship with Android 14 rather than Android 15.
—Iyaz Akhtar, PCMAG, 13 Aug. 2024
Speech delays There weren’t teleprompter flubs or wardrobe malfunctions, but getting access to one’s acceptance speech turned out to be the biggest bugaboo of the show.
—Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 17 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for bugaboo
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bugaboo
Noun
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But there’s nothing tricky, or complicated, about why millions endorsed a man preaching a gospel of violence and dread.Pat Beall, Sun Sentinel, 8 Nov. 2024
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Reihana rode through waves of dust and dread, training her mind on the coming race instead of the nearing Taliban.Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Longreads, 5 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Another bugbear on Teams can come if you’ve been invited to a pre-arranged meeting, or left a meeting partway through, but still receive notifications every time a message is typed into the chat box of the ongoing meeting.Chris Stokel-Walker, WIRED, 6 Dec. 2020
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Those claims play into concerns about government overreach, a common right-wing bugbear.Ben Guarino, Scientific American, 11 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Riley's sister Lauren Phillips talked about Riley's terror during her final moments.Samira Asma-Sadeque, People.com, 20 Nov. 2024
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Iran possessing nukes represents an existential threat to Israel’s security in a way that terror groups—despite their horrific actions—simply never did.Carrie A. Lee, Foreign Affairs, 19 Nov. 2024
Noun
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The culprit was sylvatic plague, a bacterial disease that devastates both ferrets and their primary prey, Gunnison's prairie dogs.Dan Perry, Newsweek, 26 Nov. 2024
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Business messaging and marketing is still an underpin for RCS, but this highlights that WhatsApp and other over-the-tops remain largely opt-in and don’t suffer the plague of marketing and scam texts seen on SMS and RCS.Zak Doffman, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
Noun
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In fact, Citigroup, while expecting a below-consensus 2.6% GDP pace, sees the inflation gauge hitting the 2% bogey for the quarter, a figure that could help cement a quarter-point reduction in the Fed’s benchmark lending rate when policymakers meet next week.Jeff Cox, CNBC, 29 Oct. 2024
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The defending Olympic champion bogeyed the first hole at Le Golf National with further bogeys following at holes four and seven.NBC News, NBC News, 8 Aug. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Bugaboo.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bugaboo. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.
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