boogeyman

noun

boo·​gey·​man ˈbu̇-gē-ˌman 

ˈbü-

variants or less commonly boogerman

ˈbu̇-gər- 

ˈbü-

: bogeyman

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Four words useful only in a cloddish defense of guns as instruments in a holy war against imaginary boogeymen: pedophiles, sycophants of Satan, communist plants, and covert Islamic agitants born in Kenya. —Rich Logis, The New Republic, 19 Apr. 2023

So don’t get your hopes up about any creepy boogeymen here. —Michael O'sullivan, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2023

The app’s status as a Washington boogeyman has catapulted it to the center of a political storm, which CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to confront in a congressional hearing next week. —Drew Harwell And Cat Zakrzewski, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Mar. 2023

Here’s how TikTok went from a teen sensation to Washington’s boogeyman. —Elvia Limón, Los Angeles Times, 17 Mar. 2023

For those upset by the increasing flow of dark money into politics and rightward drift of the Supreme Court — critics include both his neighbors in an idyllic seaside Maine town and the president of the United States — Mr. Leo has become a boogeyman. —Kenneth P. Vogel, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2022

But now conservatives see ‘woke’ as the big boogeyman. —Matt Thompson, SPIN, 7 Feb. 2023

But in the West, that was like the boogeyman. —Emily Strohm, PEOPLE.com, 22 June 2022

Republicans also have sought to link Bragg’s actions to George Soros, a billionaire Democratic fundraiser whom conservatives have turned into a boogeyman. —Marianna Sotomayor And Jacqueline Alemany, Anchorage Daily News, 1 Apr. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

by alteration

First Known Use

circa 1850, in the meaning defined above