BÊTE NOIRE Synonyms: 74 Similar and Opposite Words

bête noire

noun

ˌbet-ˈnwär

Definition of bête noire

as in dread

something or someone that causes fear or dread especially without reason doing my own tax return is the bête noire that haunts me every April

Synonyms & Similar Words

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as in enemy

something or someone that is hated in that organization's view, society's number one bête noire should be the drunk driver of a motor vehicle

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of bête noire There’s plenty of satisfying comic justice to come when Salieri is left alone to his own devices — and to spend a lot of climactic alone time with the audience — long after his bete noire is gone. — Chris Willman, Variety, 27 Feb. 2026 David Warner, like his bete noire Broad, was involved in 2023 but has retired since. — Darren Richman, New York Times, 11 Nov. 2025 Others also pointed to a 2010 Bon Jovi gig in Tokyo that featured images of the Dalai Lama – Beijing’s bete noire – on the stage background. — Heather Chen, CNN, 10 Feb. 2024 Wilt Chamberlain, Russell’s friend and lifelong bete noire, tried to slow down the game by taking Russell one-on-one in half-court sets that put the massive, absurdly gifted Wilt square in the post. — Corbin Smith, Rolling Stone, 8 Feb. 2023 To some Republican participants in the hearing, the whole thing seemed like an opportunity to take easy shots at outlets like Fox News, long a bete noire of the liberal and Democratic establishment. — Andy Meek, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2021 Final approval rests with Italian President Sergio Mattarella—a respected figure in Italy’s establishment and another bete noire of the League and 5 Star Movement. — WSJ, 11 Feb. 2019

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bête noire

Noun

Cameron doesn't waste a second of that time, however, establishing characters (see above), introducing Newt, showing off the geography of the Hadley's Hope terraforming base, and building a creeping sense of dread.

— Richard Edwards, Space.com, 17 July 2026
Perfectly dark tone, a sinister mystery and a looming sense of total dread.

— David Hookstead OutKick, FOXNews.com, 14 July 2026

Definition of dread

Noun

From its beginnings as a form, the novel has dealt with love and hate, war and peace, courage and cowardice, boredom and catastrophe.

— Robert Rubsam, The Atlantic, 20 July 2026
My daughter’s mother filled our daughter with hate toward me, especially after hubby number two dumped her.

— R. Eric Thomas, Chicago Tribune, 19 July 2026

Definition of hate

Noun

But your abhorrence of the outcomes of particular elections doesn’t justify your saying, Well, the hell with that.

— Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic, 2 July 2026
When human decency and basic civility fall victim to partisanship and ideology, and abhorrence of violence becomes tempered by political aims, monstrosities and tyrannies become possible.

— Michael Bloomberg, Twin Cities, 24 Sep. 2025

Definition of abhorrence

Noun

The other is that Republicans’ antipathy towards vote-by-mail is waning.

— Lia Russell, Sacbee.com, 1 June 2026
Alexander Kazakov | Afp | Getty Images That Russia and China are seen as ideologically aligned on many geopolitical issues, with each sharing a traditional antipathy and distrust towards the West, and Washington.

— Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 20 May 2026

Definition of antipathy

Noun

Kansas City is asking a judge to put control of a vacant former shopping mall that the city calls a nuisance into new hands.

— Chris Higgins, Kansas City Star, 23 July 2026
These tiny insects are a summertime nuisance that prey on people, pets, and wildlife, including birds, leaving behind an aggravating itch that can last for more than a week.

— Barbara Gillette, The Spruce, 22 July 2026

Definition of nuisance

Noun

And that was before the abomination — three-parts Netflix advertising event and one-part baseball game — even happened.

— Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 13 July 2026
Qatar 2022 was an abomination in so many ways, a World Cup staged in a nation roughly the size of Connecticut, with an appalling human rights record, but the football was frequently thrilling.

— Oliver Kay, New York Times, 13 June 2026

Definition of abomination

Noun

Similarly, big money hasn’t been anathema to either the governing body or the tournament, with FIFA’s president, Joao Havelange, partnering in 1974 with Horst Dassler, the chief executive of Adidas, to transform the organisation commercially.

— Simon Chadwick, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026
The late founder’s associations with people who collaborated with France’s Nazi occupiers in World II and his multiple hate-speech convictions, including Holocaust denial, made the National Front anathema to many voters.

— Sylvie Corbet, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026

Definition of anathema

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bet

bête noire

bêtes noires

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“Bête noire.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/b%C3%AAte%20noire. Accessed 27 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of bête noire

noun

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