bane

CEFRC2

/beɪn/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    Something that causes serious trouble or unhappiness.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Chiefly in the names of poisonous plants or substances: a poison.

Examples

  • Mosquitoes are the bane of my existence.

  • This cat is the bane of my life.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Misery, woe; also, doom, ruin; or physical injury, harm.

  2. A cause of misery or ruin.

  3. A person or thing that causes death or destruction; a killer, a murderer, a slayer.

More examples

In context

  • the bane of one’s existence

  • This is the great bane and ſcandal of the Church, that ſuch Livings as more immediately belong to it ſhould be the vvorſt ſupplyed, […]

  • Money, thou bane of bliſſe, & ſourſe of vvo, / VVhence com'ſt thou, that thou art ſo freſh and fine? / I knovv thy parentage is baſe and lovv: / Man found thee poore and dirtie in a mine.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The persistent mosquitoes were the blank of our otherwise pleasant camping trip.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

* Old Norse bani (Danish bane (“death; murder”), Icelandic bani (“bane, death”), Swedish bane (“death; murder”)), Old Norse ben (“(moral) wound”) * Old English ben, benn (“mortal injury; wound”) * Old High German bano (“death”) (Middle High German ban, bane) * Old Saxon bano (“death; murder”), beni (“mortal injury; wound”)