Bugbear

Alternative forms

• bug-bear

Full definition of bugbear

Noun

1. An ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.
2. A source of dread; resentment; or irritation.
• Alexander Pope, Epistle I of the First Book of Horace; to Lord BolingbrokeBut, to the world no bugbear is so greatAs want of figure and a small estate.
• 1841, Dickens, ,What have I done to be made a bugbear of, and to be shunned and dreaded as if I brought the plague?
3. An imaginary creature meant to inspire fear in children.
• 1900, Carl Schurz, The partisans of the Administration object to the word “imperialism,” calling it a mere bugbear having no real existence.

Verb

1. (transitive) To alarm with idle phantoms.