boo-word

(ˈbuːˌwɜːd)

any word that seems to cause irrational fear: "communism" became a boo-word in the McCarthy era.

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

References in periodicals archive ?

You will see the audience scratching and raging and panting like flea-ridden gibbons because Thatcher is a boo-word in British politics" - Boris Johnson (pictured), Mayor of London.

They say

You will see the audience scratching and raging and panting like flea-ridden gibbons, because Thatcher is a boo-word in British politics" Boris Johnson, Mayor of London "MPs have become millionaires on the quiet.

They said what?

Even so, both `economic rationalism' and `political correctness' are now probably a lost cause, no more than boo-words for the intellectually lazy.