bogeyman

or bo·gy·man

[ boog-ee-man, boh-gee-, boo- ]

noun

, plural bo·gey·men.

1. an imaginary evil character of supernatural powers, especially a mythical hobgoblin supposed to carry off naughty children.

bogeyman

/ ˈbəʊɡɪˌmæn /

noun

1. a person, real or imaginary, used as a threat, esp to children

Word History and Origins

Origin of bogeyman¹

First recorded in 1885–90; bogey ¹ (variant of bogy ¹, in the sense “a hobgoblin, evil spirit”) + man

Example Sentences

The way they get power is to keep millions of people spun up on outrageous lies about Haitians, trans people, Taylor Swift or whoever gets assigned the Bogeyman of the Day.

From Salon

If the writers of “The West Wing” had created such a bogeyman, a Republican candidate who regularly mocked, belittled and physically threatened so many parts of the electorate, who based his campaign on the authoritarian premise that unless he wins, the election is a fraud, TV audiences, Republican and Democrat, would not just have stopped watching the show.

From Los Angeles Times

“Perhaps the issue is that we need to return to a much more traditional model for society,” Marshall tells them, adding that it’s time to “find the bogeyman and slaughter it” so it never returns to “take what is ours.”

From Salon

Such simplicity in design, along with a winking sense of artifice, is partly what helped turn Kent’s bogeyman into an unlikely gay icon.

From Los Angeles Times

There was a bogeyman at Republican Rep. Mike Garcia’s town hall in Santa Clarita this week: the state of California.

From Los Angeles Times