noun
Meaning 1
A small, ugly goblin that makes trouble for humans.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
hobgoblin
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /hɒbˈɡɒb.lɪn/
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General-American: /hɑbˈɡɑb.lɪn/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɒblɪn
noun
Meaning 2
A source of dread, fear or apprehension; a bugbear.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
an object of dread or apprehension--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- Germany was always a bugbear for France
- A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: bugbear
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: object
noun
Meaning 4
(folklore) a small grotesque supernatural creature that makes trouble for human beings
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: goblin, hob
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: evil spirit
History
Etymology
From hob (“elf”, from Hob, a variant of Rob, short for Robin Goodfellow, an elf in Germanic folklore) + goblin.
Across languages
Translations
14 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: зъл дух (zǎl duh) — mischievous goblin
- Bulgarian: таласъ́м (talasǎ́m) — mischievous goblin
- Esperanto: koboldo — mischievous goblin
- Finnish: menninkäinen — mischievous goblin
- Finnish: peikko — mischievous goblin
- French: lutin — mischievous goblin
- French: hobgoblin — mischievous goblin
- Middle High German: butze — mischievous goblin
- Portuguese: hobgoblin — mischievous goblin
- Romanian: spiriduș — mischievous goblin
- Sicilian: donni di notti — mischievous goblin
- Bulgarian: плашило (plašilo) — source of dread, fear or apprehension
- Finnish: peikko — source of dread, fear or apprehension
- German: Schreckgespenst — source of dread, fear or apprehension