variants
also bogyman
as in specter
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Recent Examples of bogeyman
For all of his brutality and bogeyman power, viewers didn’t think of him as a villain.
—
Brian Raftery, Longreads, 29 Jan. 2026
His other go-to bogeyman, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, is now firmly in his lame-duck era as his term ends this spring.
—Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 11 Jan. 2026
Among Hollywood’s creative class, AI is a sort of bogeyman right now.
—Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 10 Dec. 2025
Souleymane, played devastatingly by first-timer Abou Sangaré, is neither a bogeyman or a saint — just a young man trying to navigate a bureaucratic limbo that might as well have been designed to make those in it vulnerable to exploitation.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bogeyman
Brian Raftery, Longreads, 29 Jan. 2026
His other go-to bogeyman, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, is now firmly in his lame-duck era as his term ends this spring.
—Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 11 Jan. 2026
Among Hollywood’s creative class, AI is a sort of bogeyman right now.
—Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 10 Dec. 2025
Souleymane, played devastatingly by first-timer Abou Sangaré, is neither a bogeyman or a saint — just a young man trying to navigate a bureaucratic limbo that might as well have been designed to make those in it vulnerable to exploitation.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bogeyman
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bogeyman
Noun
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With the trademarks, Swift and McConaughey likely hope that the specter of federal lawsuits will deter misuse.—
Winston Cho,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Apr. 2026
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Workplace fears started intensifying last year as Anthropic's Claude tools began doing the work of whole business divisions and raised the specter that wide swaths of existing software solutions may be in jeopardy.—
Jennifer Elias,
CNBC,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Kitana joins our heroes, secretly undermining her adoptive demon father Shao Kahn.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
6 May 2026
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Shirokawa, meanwhile, was a demon on defense, recording four assists on routine-to-difficult grounders and an acrobatic layout for a diving catch of a line drive.—
Rick Armstrong,
Chicago Tribune,
6 May 2026
Noun
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The Devil’s Museum, a satellite of the main collection, has amassed more than 3,000 depictions of demons, evil spirits and incubus from around the world.—
Joe Yogerst,
Forbes.com,
22 Apr. 2025
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Your fame sits beside you like an incubus, and people are embarrassed and want to leave the room.—
Candace Bushnell,
Vogue,
23 Feb. 2025
Noun
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At the title track’s video shoot, Michael gives directorial instructions in full ghoul makeup.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
24 Apr. 2026
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Created by a number of its stars, Ghosts originated on the BBC in 2019, following a group of ghouls from different historical periods haunting a country house while sharing the house with its new living occupants.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Such a designation, evidently, would save agents from wasting time chasing phantoms.—
Adam Ciralsky,
Vanity Fair,
19 Mar. 2026
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The Stygiomedusa gigantea, commonly known as the giant phantom jelly, was filmed at 250 meters below the surface.—
Michelle Del Rey,
USA Today,
4 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Weaving, even more than before, makes Grace an ingénue gone banshee.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
14 Mar. 2026
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The bond between a rider and their banshee doesn't break, and chances are your bond with this two-figure set won't either.—
Fran Ruiz,
Space.com,
19 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Eduardo Rodrigues Cavalcante, a receptionist at a hotel adjacent to the school, described scenes of terror, as some students tried to jump over a wall separating the school from the hotel.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
6 May 2026
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Kellison plays Bennett, a high-energy terror.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
6 May 2026
Noun
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At her very best, Emily behaves like a petulant pre-adolescent spoiled imp.—
Liza Lentini,
SPIN,
14 Apr. 2026
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The second was more bizarre: that some nasty imp in my psyche might decide that jumping was a good idea.—
Rosecrans Baldwin,
Travel + Leisure,
10 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bogeyman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bogeyman. Accessed 9 May. 2026.
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