1
as in dreads
something or someone that causes fear or dread especially without reason
communism was once the nation's biggest bugbear
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in headaches
something that is a source of irritation
hated all the bugbears of modern life, especially those long commutes to work
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bugbears
Noun
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Strap mounts are particularly infamous for causing users headaches when trying to remove phones.—
BestReviews,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2025 -
The tariffs aren’t only causing headaches for car dealerships.—
Pat Maio,
Oc Register,
13 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The most recent entry, Evil Dead Rise, stars Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland as two sisters trapped in a high-rise apartment as their family is possessed by supernatural terrors.—
Joseph Epstein,
Newsweek,
10 Dec. 2024
-
Watch Egerton discuss his airline travel terrors in the clip above.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
10 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
Shulman suggested a similar pattern could unfold in China, but with frustrations centered on the tariffs.—
Miranda Nazzaro,
The Hill,
13 Apr. 2025
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The same frustrations that haunted him at the end of last season have reappeared in ugly ways.—
Matt Gelb,
New York Times,
11 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 has mainly been invoked during wartime in order for the federal government to control immigration of the United States’s enemies.—
Ross O'Keefe,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
22 Mar. 2025
-
But as his king’s new wife Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips) fails to provide him a male heir and an uprising in the north of England threatens the delicate state of the realm, Cromwell’s enemies begin to circle while the king (Damian Lewis) grows ever more unpredictable.—
Katie Kilkenny,
The Hollywood Reporter,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Those programs, despite their occasional annoyances, were directionally correct.—
Kara Swisher,
The Atlantic,
9 Mar. 2025
-
Like all married couples, George and Kathryn have their things, those little daily annoyances, the occasional doubt about what the other may be thinking, or doing, in their private hours.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
TIME,
6 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
The Voice of America and its later branches are designed to be irritants to undemocratic regimes.—
arkansasonline.com,
arkansasonline.com,
24 Mar. 2025
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Both men were irritants to Erdogan and could stir up trouble, but neither was a real threat to Erdogan’s power.—
Ahmet T. Kuru,
The Conversation,
19 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Bugbears.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bugbears. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
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