The ___ of one's existence

The answer

BANE

4 letters. See every clue for this answer on the BANE answer page.

Used 9 times across 7 distinct years; most recently in 2026; first recorded in 2012. It appears in 6 publications in the xd corpus. Frequency and last-seen figures come from the xd crossword corpus only.

Other clues for BANE

Every other clue in this collection answered by BANE, most used first.

• Curse - used 57 times, most recently in 2026
• Scourge - used 55 times, most recently in 2025
• Ruination - used 48 times, most recently in 2025
• Cause of ruin - used 43 times, most recently in 2026
• Poison - used 31 times, most recently in 2014
• Nemesis - used 28 times, most recently in 2025
• Thorn in one's side - used 27 times, most recently in 2025
• Source of misery - used 24 times, most recently in 2023
• Source of ruin - used 22 times, most recently in 2026
• Spoiler - used 20 times, most recently in 2023
• Downfall - used 18 times, most recently in 2025
• Ruin - used 18 times, most recently in 2010
• Cause of distress - used 16 times, most recently in 2023
• Deadly poison - used 15 times, most recently in 2013
• ___ of one's existence - used 15 times, most recently in 2025
• "The Dark Knight Rises" villain - used 15 times, most recently in 2025
• Cause of harm - used 14 times, most recently in 2020
• Cause of misery - used 14 times, most recently in 2022
• The ___ of my existence - used 10 times, most recently in 2026
• Undoing - used 10 times, most recently in 2020
• Bugaboo - used 9 times, most recently in 2026
• Source of harm - used 9 times, most recently in 2024
• Bete noire - used 7 times, most recently in 2021
• Harmful thing - used 7 times, most recently in 1980
• Ruinous agent - used 7 times, most recently in 2013
• Cause of one's undoing - used 6 times, most recently in 2013
• "It's the ___ of my existence" - used 6 times, most recently in 2026

Related clues

Clues in this collection of the same answer length that share a word with this clue, or match its answer pattern when no word is shared. Most used first.

• Up to the task - ABLE, used 397 times
• In the thick of - AMID, used 377 times
• On the briny - ASEA, used 364 times
• From the top - ANEW, used 355 times
• Spill the beans - BLAB, used 313 times
• Away from the wind - ALEE, used 282 times

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