hobgoblin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In response, Black quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson to me: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
He has taken Emerson’s nostrum about consistency being “the hobgoblin of little minds” to its acid-flashback extreme: no consistency, no mind to speak of, but one hell of a hobgoblin.
From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2025
I’m fine with that; a foolish adherence to canon is the hobgoblin of small minds.
From The Verge ● Aug. 23, 2022
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” Emerson wrote, and in this respect at least, Thiel’s intellect lives up to its billing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2021
Anyway, Jack and Sarah journey across the forest, defeat a troll army, rescue the fairy princess, battle the evil hobgoblin king and queen, and return the world to the sunshine.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
Vocabulary lists containing hobgoblin
