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Boon vs. Bane: What's the Difference?

Boon and Bane Definitions

Boon

Something that provides a benefit or an advantage
A brisk breeze is a boon to sailors.

Bane

A cause of harm, ruin, or death
"Obedience, / Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth, / Makes slaves of men" (Percy Bysshe Shelley).

Boon

Convivial; jolly
A boon companion to all.

Bane

A source of persistent annoyance or exasperation
"The spellings of foreign names are often the bane of busy copy editors" (Norm Goldstein).

Boon

(Archaic) Favorable.
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Bane

Fatal injury or ruin
"Hath some fond lover tic'd thee to thy bane?" (George Herbert).

Boon

(obsolete) A prayer; petition.

Bane

A deadly poison.

Boon

(archaic) That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift or benefaction.

Bane

A cause of misery or death.
The bane of one's existence
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Boon

A good thing; a blessing or benefit; a thing to be thankful for.
Finding the dry cave was a boon to the weary travellers.
Anaesthetics are a great boon to modern surgery.

Bane

(dated) Poison, especially any of several poisonous plants.

Boon

An unpaid service due by a tenant to his lord.

Bane

(obsolete) A killer, murderer, slayer.

Boon

The woody portion of flax, separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

Bane

(obsolete) Destruction; death.

Boon

(obsolete) Good; prosperous.

Bane

A disease of sheep.

Boon

(archaic) Kind; bountiful; benign.

Bane

(transitive) To kill, especially by poison; to be the poison of.

Boon

(now only in boon companion) gay; merry; jovial; convivial.

Bane

(transitive) To be the bane of.

Boon

A prayer or petition.
For which to God he made so many an idle boon.

Bane

That which destroys life, esp. poison of a deadly quality.

Boon

That which is asked or granted as a benefit or favor; a gift; a benefaction; a grant; a present.
Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above.

Bane

Destruction; death.
The cup of deception spiced and tempered to their bane.

Boon

The woody portion flax, which is separated from the fiber as refuse matter by retting, braking, and scutching.

Bane

Any cause of ruin, or lasting injury; harm; woe.
Money, thou bane of bliss, and source of woe.

Boon

Good; prosperous; as, boon voyage.

Bane

A disease in sheep, commonly termed the rot.

Boon

Kind; bountiful; benign.
Which . . . Nature boonPoured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain.

Bane

To be the bane of; to ruin.

Boon

Gay; merry; jovial; convivial.
A boon companion, loving his bottle.

Bane

Something causes misery or death;
The bane of my life

Boon

A desirable state;
Enjoy the blessings of peace
A spanking breeze is a boon to sailors

Boon

Very close and convivial;
Boon companions

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