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Headache vs Bugbear - What's the difference?

headache | bugbear |

As nouns the difference between headache and bugbear

is that headache is a pain or ache in the head while bugbear is an ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.

As a verb bugbear is

to alarm with idle phantoms.

headache

English

(wikipedia headache)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A pain or ache in the head.
  • (figurative) A nuisance or unpleasant problem.
    • The clumsy filing system has been a huge headache .

    Synonyms

    * (physical pain) cephalalgia * (annoyance) bother, pain in the neck

    Hyponyms

    * hemicrania * migraine * megrim * tension headache

    bugbear

    English

    (wikipedia bugbear)

    Alternative forms

    * bug-bear

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.
  • A source of dread; resentment; or irritation.
  • * Alexander Pope, Epistle I of the First Book of Horace; to Lord Bolingbroke
    • But, to the world no bugbear is so great
    As want of figure and a small estate.
  • *1841 , Dickens,
  • *:What have I done to be made a bugbear of, and to be shunned and dreaded as if I brought the plague?
  • An imaginary creature meant to inspire fear in children.
  • *1900 , Carl Schurz,
  • *:The partisans of the Administration object to the word “imperialism,” calling it a mere bugbear having no real existence.

    • See also

    * * bogeyman * bugaboo

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To alarm with idle phantoms.