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
Gleeson’s Puck is a malevolent hobgoblin who serves as the royal jester to King Auberon of Faerie.
—
Denise Petski, Deadline, 2 July 2024
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.
—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
See All Example Sentences for hobgoblin
Denise Petski, Deadline, 2 July 2024
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.
—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
See All Example Sentences for hobgoblin
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hobgoblin
Noun
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Their modus operandi is to rescue interesting old buildings in a sorry state of disrepair and liberally sprinkle fairy dust over them.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
16 May 2026
-
And creatures — fairies, a faun, the unforgettable Pale Man, with eyes in the palms of his hands — reveal a world of deeper and darker enchantment.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
13 May 2026
Noun
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Every May, millions of high school students sit for Advanced Placement exams with a mixture of dread and excitement, with many believing that their scores could measurably shift the needle in their college prospects.—
Christopher Rim,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
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Up until shooting began, Seydoux was in a state of dread.—
Daniel D'Addario,
Variety,
18 May 2026
Noun
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There’s also caviar and cookies and Christmas trees and Housewives and Bravolebrities, all surrounded by twink elves in Christmas G-strings.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
4 May 2026
-
The company behind that trio of elves, some of the most iconic mascots in pop culture, is the same corporation that put breakfast on the table in the first place.—
Heather Bushman,
USA Today,
15 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The fantasy comedy twisted the types of fairy tales that Disney was known for with cruder and sillier humor and centered a grumpy ogre journeying to save a princess.—
Savannah Salazar,
Vulture,
15 May 2026
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In recent weeks, social media users, especially on X, have been noticing increasing references to goblins, along with other fantasy creatures such as gremlins, ogres and trolls in ChatGPT’s answers to user queries.—
Rob Wile,
NBC news,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
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OpenAI leaned into the curious habit, choosing to highlight the goblin-forbidding prompt in a tweet.—
Frank Landymore,
Futurism,
30 Apr. 2026
-
The maker of ChatGPT has an explanation for all the goblin talk.—
Rob Wile,
NBC news,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Putting words on the page seems too low stakes to get worked up about, and yet the terror of saying something taboo—or just being boring—feels like a terrible fate to most writers.—
David O’Neill,
New Yorker,
20 May 2026
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While Clancy died in 2013, Jack Ryan continues to confront a world that never loses its capacity for danger, destruction and terror.—
Stephen Schaefer,
Boston Herald,
20 May 2026
Noun
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Over billions of years, the galaxy probably collided with smaller dwarf galaxies, which brought in fresh gas and stars and helped build up the outer spiral arms.—
Lisa Kewley,
The Conversation,
14 May 2026
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The shrub grows 6 to 15 feet tall; there are dwarf, medium-sized, and tall varieties.—
Kim Toscano,
Southern Living,
14 May 2026
Noun
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This has been one of its main bugbears for years, with several engine types experimented with.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
25 Apr. 2026
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Timings, though, can often be a bugbear.—
Philip Buckingham,
New York Times,
5 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hobgoblin.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hobgoblin. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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