When idea hunting, I ran across this funky little French term, bete noir. Literally,it translates to cower or to black beast, though it usually defined as something or someone that is dreaded or hated, something frightening, a bugbear, or a bane.
Frightened or Frightening
These are adjectives meaning having been thrown into a fright, being afraid, scared, fearful, or terrified. The bete noir synonyms for this are firghtener,scarer, hair-raiser, bogey, bogeyman, bugaboo, hobgoblin, scarecrow, horror, holy terror, orgre, monster, vampire, werewolf, ghoul, ucubus, sccubus, nightmare, witch, goblin, ghost, specter, phantom, Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolf-man.
Enemy
Enemy, as a noun, is a person who feels hatred towards an opponent, or who intends to injure that opponent, or who opposes another person’s interests. It also describes hostile powers or forces (e.g. nations), or a group of foes or hostile forces. As and adjective, the word enemy means “of, relating to, or being a hostile power or force.” Bete noir synonyms include, enmity, unfriendliness, uncordiality, incompatibility, personal conflict, strain, tension, coldness, chill, frost, iciness, the freeze, inhospitality, and usociability.
Bugbear
Bugbearm a noun, beans a bugaboo or a fearsome imaginary creature (i.e. ghost or goblin) that is frequently incited to frighten children. It could also be an object or soruce of dread, or a continuing source of irritation. Synonyms for bete noir include: bugaoo, bogey, boggart, booger, booger-man, bogeyman, and boogeyman,
Bane
Bane is a noun meaning a fatal injury or ruin; a cause of harm, ruin or death; a source of persistent annoyance or exaperation; or a deadly poison. Bete noir synonyms include: curse, affliction, plague, pestilence, calamity, scourge, torment grievance, woe, burden, crushing burden, disease, death, evil, harm, destruction, vexation, thorn in the flesh, thorn in the side, nemesis, and arch-nemesis.
These are all great words and concepts for horror stories and movies, as well as film noir stories – those movies that have dark themes. They are all suggestive of dark places, of fightening scenes, of war and bad relations between people. The dark side of life is a great place for using the bete noir concept in story telling and movies.
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