Definition of "bugbear" [bug•bear]

• A bugaboo. (noun)
• A fearsome imaginary creature, especially one evoked to frighten children. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "My particular bugbear is the supermarket "half-price" special offer – these are no doubt true, technically, but the initial price is generally well above what the wine is actually worth."
• "His only bugbear is likely to be the US policy regarding Israel's and the West's brutal sixty year oppression of the Palestinians – the absolute root cause of all Middle-East terrorism from 9/11 to Iran."
• "My other bugbear is that nobody who knows anything about Renaissance art refers to the guy as Da Vinci."