bugaboo

[Bailey]

bug·a·boo (bg-b)
n. pl. bug·a·boos
1. An object of obsessive, usually exaggerated fear or anxiety: "Boredom, laziness and failure . . . These bugaboos, magnified by imagination, keep [the workaholic] running" Dun's Review.
2. A recurring or persistent problem: "the bugaboos that have plagued vision systems: high price and slow throughput" Lawrence A. Goshorn.



[Perhaps of Celtic origin.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

like a boogeyman only with ideas and intangibles.

mark the-bugaboo-of-small-minds Bailey

[bnjtokyo]

Not quite the definition you may have had in mind, but I couldn't resist.the bugaboos

[Perry]

I would love to visit that park for the name alone.