the act of discrediting or detracting from someone's reputation (especially by slander); "let it be no detraction from his merits to say he is plainspoken"
a pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of; "racism is a pestilence at the heart of the nation"; "according to him, I was the canker in their midst"
an object of dread or apprehension; "Germany was always a bugbear for France"; "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"--Ralph Waldo Emerson