Bugbear
noun
Something or someone that constantly annoys or worries a person.
For nancy, her boss's habit of micromanaging became her biggest bugbear.
noun
A legendary monster in old English folklore.
In the story, the brave knight has to defeat the bugbear to save the princess.
Usage tips
Literary
noun
Something or someone that constantly annoys or worries a person.
For nancy, her boss's habit of micromanaging became her biggest bugbear.
noun
A legendary monster in old English folklore.
In the story, the brave knight has to defeat the bugbear to save the princess.
Usage tips
Literary
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Everyday Problems
Use 'bugbear' to express regular frustrations or problems in daily life, especially petty ones.
Traffic jams are my ultimate bugbear during the morning commute.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Severe
'Bugbear' implies annoyance, but not anything deeply upsetting or life-changing.
His constant whistling is a bugbear of mine, but I'll survive.
Pro Tip 3/3Can be Humorous
Sometimes 'bugbear' is used in a light, humorous way to show that you're not seriously troubled.
My friend's obsession with punctuality is a bit of a bugbear to our laid-back group.
Pro Tip 1/3Everyday Problems
Use 'bugbear' to express regular frustrations or problems in daily life, especially petty ones.
Traffic jams are my ultimate bugbear during the morning commute.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Severe
'Bugbear' implies annoyance, but not anything deeply upsetting or life-changing.
His constant whistling is a bugbear of mine, but I'll survive.
Pro Tip 3/3Can be Humorous
Sometimes 'bugbear' is used in a light, humorous way to show that you're not seriously troubled.
My friend's obsession with punctuality is a bit of a bugbear to our laid-back group.
Pro Tip 1/3Everyday Problems
Use 'bugbear' to express regular frustrations or problems in daily life, especially petty ones.
Traffic jams are my ultimate bugbear during the morning commute.
Pro Tip 2/3Not Severe
'Bugbear' implies annoyance, but not anything deeply upsetting or life-changing.
His constant whistling is a bugbear of mine, but I'll survive.
Pro Tip 3/3Can be Humorous
Sometimes 'bugbear' is used in a light, humorous way to show that you're not seriously troubled.
My friend's obsession with punctuality is a bit of a bugbear to our laid-back group.
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Video examples
What You Need to Know...
But you can speed up the process if you grind up the rock and spread it on fields, and then you can speed it up to just a couple of years. And like biochar, it’s good for the soil. You get minerals in the soil where you need them. And when it washes off into the sea, it can also help with another big bugbear of climate ocean acidification.
Video examples
Filming Africa’s Top...
we were really determined to capture life as it unfolded in front of us no matter how harsh and brutal and difficult it became. I have a bugbear about natural history films that
Video examples
What You Need to Know...
But you can speed up the process if you grind up the rock and spread it on fields, and then you can speed it up to just a couple of years. And like biochar, it’s good for the soil. You get minerals in the soil where you need them. And when it washes off into the sea, it can also help with another big bugbear of climate ocean acidification.
Video examples
Filming Africa’s Top...
we were really determined to capture life as it unfolded in front of us no matter how harsh and brutal and difficult it became. I have a bugbear about natural history films that
Example 1 of 2
Quote examples
Boris Yeltsin
Russian Statesman
There are numerous bugbears in the profession of a politician. First, ordinary life suffers. Second, there are many temptations to ruin you and those around you. And I suppose third, and this is rarely discussed, people at the top generally have no friends.
Quote examples
Susie Dent
English Scientist
Unlike our neighbours on the mainland of Europe, we have resisted creating an academy to legislate over proper English. We each have our linguistic bugbear, but few of us would want to freeze our mother tongue.
Quote examples
James Purefoy
English Actor
Airport security is a particular bugbear. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, while I can see that averting terrorism is manifestly important, the measures taken seem, simultaneously, absurd.
Quote examples
William Hazlitt
English Critic
A nickname is the heaviest stone that the devil can throw at a man. It is a bugbear to the imagination, and, though we do not believe in it, it still haunts our apprehensions.
Quote examples
Alun Wyn Jones
Welsh Athlete
A bugbear of mine is bragging rights in regional derbies: it would be a lot more worth to the regional game if we did something special in European rugby.
Quote examples
Chris Hoy
British Driver
My big travel bugbear is Manchester Airport because getting through Terminal Three, as I have to do quite a lot, is a nightmare.
Quote examples
Hugh Dennis
One of my travelling bugbears is just people-watching or sticking to a rigid to-do list without venturing further afield.
Quote examples
Penelope Keith
British Actress
Language is my bugbear. Everyone says things now like 'I was sat' instead of 'I was sitting', which just sounds so ugly.
Quote examples
Alice Eve
English Actress
This has become a bugbear of mine: the difference between geek and nerd.
Quote examples
Johnny Vegas
British Comedian
I avoid any kind of organised trips as that's one of my bugbears.
Quote examples
Boris Yeltsin
Russian Statesman
There are numerous bugbears in the profession of a politician. First, ordinary life suffers. Second, there are many temptations to ruin you and those around you. And I suppose third, and this is rarely discussed, people at the top generally have no friends.
Quote examples
Susie Dent
English Scientist
Unlike our neighbours on the mainland of Europe, we have resisted creating an academy to legislate over proper English. We each have our linguistic bugbear, but few of us would want to freeze our mother tongue.
Quote examples
James Purefoy
English Actor
Airport security is a particular bugbear. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, while I can see that averting terrorism is manifestly important, the measures taken seem, simultaneously, absurd.
Quote examples
William Hazlitt
English Critic
A nickname is the heaviest stone that the devil can throw at a man. It is a bugbear to the imagination, and, though we do not believe in it, it still haunts our apprehensions.
Quote examples
Alun Wyn Jones
Welsh Athlete
A bugbear of mine is bragging rights in regional derbies: it would be a lot more worth to the regional game if we did something special in European rugby.
Quote examples
Chris Hoy
British Driver
My big travel bugbear is Manchester Airport because getting through Terminal Three, as I have to do quite a lot, is a nightmare.
Quote examples
Hugh Dennis
One of my travelling bugbears is just people-watching or sticking to a rigid to-do list without venturing further afield.
Quote examples
Penelope Keith
British Actress
Language is my bugbear. Everyone says things now like 'I was sat' instead of 'I was sitting', which just sounds so ugly.
Quote examples
Alice Eve
English Actress
This has become a bugbear of mine: the difference between geek and nerd.
Quote examples
Johnny Vegas
British Comedian
I avoid any kind of organised trips as that's one of my bugbears.
Example 1 of 10
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