bugbear

peikko An ongoing problem; a recurring obstacle or adversity.
A source of dread; resentment; or irritation.
Alexander Pope, Epistle I of the First Book of Horace; to Lord Bolingbroke

But, to the world no bugbear is so great

As want of figure and a small estate.

What have I done to be made a bugbear of, and to be shunned and dreaded as if I brought the plague?

The partisans of the Administration object to the word “imperialism,” calling it a mere bugbear having no real existence.