Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A cause of harm, ruin, or death.
- noun A source of persistent annoyance or exasperation.
- noun Fatal injury or ruin.
- noun A deadly poison.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A slayer or murderer; a worker of death, as a man or an animal.
- noun That which causes death or destroys life; especially, poison of a deadly quality.
- noun Hence Any fatal cause of mischief, injury, or destruction: as, vice is the bane of society.
- noun Ruin; destruction.
- noun Death: usually with such verbs as catch, get, take: as, to
catch one's bane. - noun A disease in sheep, more commonly called the rot.
- noun Scotch form of
bone . - An obsolete form of
bain . - An obsolete form of
bain . - noun An obsolete form of
ban , especially in plural banes, now banns (which see). - To kill; poison.
- To injure; ruin.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To be the bane of; to ruin.
- noun Obs. except in combination, as in ratsbane, henbane, etc. That which destroys life, esp. poison of a deadly quality.
- noun obsolete Destruction; death.
- noun Any cause of ruin, or lasting injury; harm; woe.
- noun A disease in sheep, commonly termed the
rot .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
bone - noun A cause of
misery ordeath ; anaffliction orcurse - noun obsolete A
killer ,murderer , slayer - noun dated
Poison , especially any of several poisonousplants - verb transitive To
kill , especially bypoison ; to be the poison of. - verb transitive To be the bane of.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun something causing misery or death
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Consider This: Unless people are aware of its Hawaiian origins, this name will evoke the word bane and all its negative associations.
5-Star Baby Name Advisor Bruce Lansky 2008
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Consider This: Unless people are aware of its Hawaiian origins, this name will evoke the word bane and all its negative associations.
5-Star Baby Name Advisor Bruce Lansky 2008
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He'd never heard anyone use the word "bane" correctly in a sentence before.
Someone Like Me Mary Alston Capps 2011
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Anyway, it got me thinking about my sister who I often describe as the bane of my existence.
lorenjavier.com 2009
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Laftly, he declared his hatred to the tribunes, whom he called the bane of the public happinefs « '.
An universal history, from the earliest accounts to the present time 1780
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It may be inevitable (or not), but whether it’s a boon or a bane is very much a question.
You’re Not Buying Gadgets, You Are Subscribing to Them - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com 2008
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Every girl’s bane is no longer an issue with Avon’s innovative Instant Manicure nail polish.
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Every girl’s bane is no longer an issue with Avon’s innovative Instant Manicure nail polish.
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His bane was a morbid temperament, which he could no more help than his sallow face and weedy person; even his vanity was directly traceable to the early influence of an eccentric and feckless father with experimental ideas on the upbringing of a child.
Stingaree 1893
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Imitation has been called the bane of originality; suppress it as a factor, and nine-tenths of living painters, sculptors, etchers would have to shut up shop.
Promenades of an Impressionist James Huneker 1890
ruzuzu commented on the word bane
"A disease in sheep, more commonly called the rot."
--Century Dictionary
March 1, 2022