as in dreads
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 bugaboos
Best Supporting Actress One of Hickey’s bugaboos is the way the supporting races have often been gift-wrapped early, with co-leads like Emilia Pérez’s Zoe Saldaña and A Real Pain’s Kieran Culkin sweeping to victory.
—
Nate Jones, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2026
Now, for one of their chief bugaboos — a primary culprit for the mediocre record through 32 games.
—Joe Vardon, New York Times, 25 Dec. 2025
James went down a lengthy list of bugaboos that hurt the Chargers, including but not limited to 14 penalties totaling 107 yards, the Giants’ 7-for-15 efficiency on third downs, a lackluster start that featured deficits of 10-0 and 13-3 in the first half and a failure to force a New York turnover.
—Elliott Teaford, Oc Register, 28 Sep. 2025
Getting the focus right is one of the bugaboos of using a telephoto lens for astrophotography, because the focus on such lenses is touchy and easily gets knocked off kilter.
—IEEE Spectrum, 28 Apr. 2024
Nate Jones, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2026
Now, for one of their chief bugaboos — a primary culprit for the mediocre record through 32 games.
—Joe Vardon, New York Times, 25 Dec. 2025
James went down a lengthy list of bugaboos that hurt the Chargers, including but not limited to 14 penalties totaling 107 yards, the Giants’ 7-for-15 efficiency on third downs, a lackluster start that featured deficits of 10-0 and 13-3 in the first half and a failure to force a New York turnover.
—Elliott Teaford, Oc Register, 28 Sep. 2025
Getting the focus right is one of the bugaboos of using a telephoto lens for astrophotography, because the focus on such lenses is touchy and easily gets knocked off kilter.
—IEEE Spectrum, 28 Apr. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bugaboos
Noun
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He's described by officials as a Black male in his late teens with a medium-large build and thick dreads.—
Nick Lentz,
CBS News,
15 June 2026
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Mirror images except for the fact that Jelani has his hair in dreads, while Ari goes with the more retro-look afro.—
Chris Hays,
The Orlando Sentinel,
22 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Any justice in the community would praise this murderer’s row of craftspeople working on the production design for the period town setting; makeup, especially Pennywise’s horrible face; sound design, for helping to keep the audio terrors churning along; and the costume work.—
William Earl,
Variety,
11 June 2026
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Madonna has made music through various calamities that at the time felt world-ending — wars, political unrest, financial collapse — so the terrors of 2026 don’t seem to faze her.—
Scottie Andrew,
CNN Money,
2 June 2026
Noun
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This has been one of its main bugbears for years, with several engine types experimented with.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
25 Apr. 2026
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The bugbears of this season — wasting promising chances (though Manchester United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce deserves credit for many of those) and some vulnerability to counter-attacks — remained.—
Cerys Jones,
New York Times,
23 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Its buttery texture melts onto the lips, bypassing the drag and pull that plagues drier drugstore pencils.—
Micaela English,
Glamour,
30 Apr. 2026
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Another kind of typhus, carried by lice and caused by the bacteria Rickettsia prowazekii, produced historic plagues that devastated populations during times of war, famine and poverty, the National Institutes for Health said.—
Don Sweeney
April 8,
Sacbee.com,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In another fates-or-hobgoblins moment, a discombobulated Washington had started a war.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
Noun
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Those of us who care about keeping liberalism alive need Europeans to start defending it against all of its enemies—in Moscow, Beijing, and Washington.—
Robert Kagan,
The Atlantic,
19 June 2026
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In the book, Leganski offers a rare, unfettered account of what goes into becoming speaker of the House, and takes digs at enemies.—
Zak Hudak,
CBS News,
19 June 2026
Noun
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Thank you for a plethora of news on June 17 that didn’t crush our spirits.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
21 June 2026
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As one of the world’s largest spirits conglomerates, the company certainly had access to some choice, well-aged stocks.—
David Thomas Tao,
Forbes.com,
21 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bugaboos.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bugaboos. Accessed 23 Jun. 2026.
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