1
as in fairy
an imaginary being usually having a small human form and magical powers
in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck is a hobgoblin who plays pranks such as spoiling milk and tripping old ladies
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2
as in dread
something or someone that causes fear or dread especially without reason
the fear of success and the pressures that come with it can be more of a hobgoblin than the possibility of failure
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Recent Examples of hobgoblin
Sightings of the mythical Nain Rouge, a red hobgoblin or dwarf that appears on the eve of tragedy, date to Detroit's origin — and locals have reclaimed the spirit with an annual march to scare the demon away, according to tradition.
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Detroit Free Press, 24 Mar. 2024
As Ralph Waldo Emerson might have said in an essay of the same name (and did), a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds; Tommy seems to feel his brain shrinking along with his life.
—John Anderson, WSJ, 9 Jan. 2024
Consistency is the hobgoblin of large language models.
—Brianne Kane, Scientific American, 29 Sep. 2023
The narrative unfolds communally around a table, with plenty of backtracking, retconning, and joking—and avoiding the small-minded hobgoblins of consistency and rules-lawyering.
—Ethan Gilsdorf, WIRED, 27 June 2023
See All Example Sentences for hobgoblin
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hobgoblin
Noun
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The series centers around Timmy Turner, a miserable 10-year-old whose life improves significantly after he is given two fairy godparents named Wanda and Cosmo.—
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The toy projects an AI hologram companion that resembles a dragon or fairy.—
Noun
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There’s a sense of foreboding and dread.—
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Of course, the dread is always worse.—
Noun
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The reindeer team, the elf team — everyone will be there.—
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Jenkins dressed as Santa Claus at community events and the 6-feet-3-inch, 145-pound Bledsoe as an elf.—
Noun
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Here, a fairy tale-level ogre in Lorincz gets the benefit of the doubt from police because of her whiteness.—
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The show starts, as many anime romances do, with a childhood friendship, here between the chaotic witch-in-training Nico and the taciturn ogre Morihito.—
Noun
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On set, however, managing scenes that required baby Toby to cry was a delicate process – one made possible by actress Shari Weiser, who controlled the goblin Hoggle from inside a suit.—
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The kallikantzaroi are a group of blind, black goblins who live underground during most of the year sawing at the world tree – a motif throughout various folklores that connects the heavens to the Earth.—
Noun
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Even his smile is sinister in the English actor’s current reign of cinematic terror.—
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Nate is now running a construction company, but can be seen in a brief scene, his eyes filled with terror.—
Noun
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Skip cosmetic pruning of conifers during the coldest part of winter and delay shaping trims for ornamental yews, junipers, boxwoods, and tree-type conifers like dwarf spruces until after the new flush of growth in spring.—
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Care Requirements When cultivating a dwarf apple tree indoors, choose a container with drainage holes that has a top diameter of 18 to 22 inches or a capacity of 15 to 25 gallons.—
Noun
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Mamdani’s appointment to his transition team of the former Federal Trade Commission head Lina Khan, a bugbear of business élites, suggests a flair for attracting eye-catching national figures (even if what role such a figure might play in his actual administration remains undetermined).—
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European leaders this week also discussed the thorny issue of future funding for the country, which is a bugbear for Trump.—
Cite this Entry
“Hobgoblin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hobgoblin. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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