bugbear

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: bug=bear

CIDE DICTIONARY

bugbear, n. [See Bug.].

•  Something frightful, as a specter; anything imaginary that causes needless fright; something used to excite needless fear; also, something really dangerous, or an imaginary monster, used to frighten children, etc.  Lloyd.  [1913 Webster]

  "But, to the world no bugbear is so great
  As want of figure and a small estate."  [1913 Webster]

  "The bugaboo of the liberals is the church pray."  [1913 Webster]

  "The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl."  [1913 Webster]
•  a source of concern; as, the old bugaboo of inflation still bothers them.  [WordNet 1.5]

Syn. -- Hobgoblin; goblin; specter; ogre; scarecrow; bogeyman; boogeyman; booger.

bugbear, n. 

 Same as Bugaboo.  Locke.  [1913 Webster]

bugbear, v. t. 

 To alarm with idle phantoms.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

bugbear, n.
1 a cause of annoyance or anger; a b{ecirc}te noire.
2 an object of baseless fear.
3 archaic a sort of hobgoblin or any being invoked to intimidate children.

Etymology

obs. bug + BEAR(2)

THESAURUS

bugbear

Dracula, Frankenstein, Mumbo Jumbo, Wolf-man, affliction, anathema, bane, bete noire, bogey, bogeyman, boggart, bogle, bogy, booger, boogerman, boogeyman, bug, bugaboo, bugger, burden, calamity, crushing burden, cry of wolf, curse, death, destruction, detestation, disease, dud, evil, false alarm, fee-faw-fum, frightener, ghost, ghoul, grievance, harm, hate, hobgoblin, holy terror, horror, incubus, infliction, monster, nemesis, nightmare, ogre, ogress, open wound, pest, pestilence, phantom, plague, revenant, running sore, scarebabe, scarecrow, scarer, scourge, specter, succubus, terror, thorn, torment, vampire, vexation, visitation, werewolf, woe

ROGET THESAURUS

bugbear

Imagination

N imagination, originality, invention, fancy, inspiration, verve, warm imagination, heated imagination, excited imagination, sanguine imagination, ardent imagination, fiery imagination, boiling imagination, wild imagination, bold imagination, daring imagination, playful imagination, lively imagination, fertile imagination, fancy, mind's eye, such stuff as dreams are made of, ideality, idealism, romanticism, utopianism, castle-building, dreaming, phrensy, frenzy, ecstasy, extasy, calenture, reverie, trance, day dream, golden dream, somnambulism, conception, Vorstellung, excogitation, a fine frenzy, cloudland, dreamland, flight of fancy, fumes of fancy, thick coming fancies, creation of the brain, coinage of the brain, imagery, conceit, maggot, figment, myth, dream, vision, shadow, chimera, phantasm, phantasy, fantasy, fancy, whim, whimsey, whimsy, vagary, rhapsody, romance, gest, geste, extravaganza, air drawn dagger, bugbear, nightmare, flying Dutchman, great sea serpent, man in the moon, castle in the air, pipe dream, pie-in-the-sky, chateau en Espagne, Utopia, Atlantis, happy valley, millennium, fairyland, land of Prester John, kindgom of Micomicon, work of fiction, Arabian nights, le pot au lait, dream of Alnashar, illusion, phantom, Fata Morgana, vapor, stretch of the imagination, mythogenesis, idealist, romanticist, visionary, mopus, romancer, dreamer, somnambulist, rhapsodist, castle-buildier, fanciful projector, imagined, ben trovato, air drawn, airbuilt, imagining, imaginative, original, inventive, creative, fertile, romantic, high flown, flighty, extravagant, fanatic, enthusiastic, unrealistic, Utopian, Quixotic, ideal, unreal, in the clouds, in nubibus, unsubsantial, illusory, fabulous, legendary, mythical, mythic, mythological, chimerical, imaginary, visionary, notional, fancy, fanciful, fantastic, fantastical, whimsical, fairy, fairy-like, gestic, a change came o'er the spirit of my dream, aegri somnia vana, dolphinum appingit sylvis in fluctibus aprum, fancy light from fancy caught, imagination rules the world, l'imagination gallope, le jugement ne va que le pas, musaeo contingens cuncta lepore, tous songes sont mensonges, Wahrheil und Dichtung, DIVISION II COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS.