bane of
10
7.4
- idiom
:
azote de
- Traffic jams are the bane of my daily commute.
- bane of society
The parking lot is the bane of architects lives.
- The parking lot is the bane of architects lives.
- The pitted scarring I have on my temples and like cheeks, which are like the bane of my existence.
- Like it's a very, very high level operation those fishermen have going there and, and you are the bane of their existence.
- But one thing that has always been the bane of Mini Itx's existence has been the lack of expandability.
- That's the bane of media and being seduced by it.
Examples
-
Market volatility is the bane of secondary markets and is a serious disincentive to recycling efforts.
Academic text (1994) -
Poachers are the bane of my existence.
-
It's the bane of our lives.
-
This song is the bane of my whole existence.
-
This man is the bane of my existence.
-
That woman is the bane of my existence.
-
You have been the bane of my existence since they voted you apartment manager.
-
Bowls are the bane of my existence.
-
They're the bane of my existence.
-
It is the bane of my existence.
Synonyms
126
4.9
A person or thing that causes a lot of harm
109
9.2
A person or thing that is very annoying and difficult to deal with
62
3.6
A person or thing that annoys others and causes trouble
8
8.0
A very annoying person or thing that causes trouble
1
6.3
A person or thing that keeps causing trouble for someone
1
7.0
Something that keeps causing you trouble or worry
Antonyms
How Troublesome
Surface Forms
Morphology
bane + of
Given the constituent 'bane' meaning 'a source of significant distress or harm' and the relational preposition 'of', a B1 learner who knows both words can compose the meaning 'a cause of great distress to X'. The pattern 'NOUN of X' is a standard, compositional construction found across languages, so the expression is immediately derivable from its parts.
Etymology
The idiom bane of comes from a long-ago use of bane to mean 'poison' or 'a thing that kills'. So when we call something the bane of our life, imagine a poison that keeps harming us, which is why the phrase means 'a cause of great distress or annoyance'.