Oedipus complex
an unconscious sexual desire directed toward a parent of a different gender, especially by a son toward his mother, usually originating in childhood and expressed through rivalry with the other parent.: Compare Electra complex.
Origin of Oedipus complex
1- Also Oed·i·pal com·plex [ed-uh-puhl kom-pleks, ee-duh-] /ˈɛd ə pəl ˌkɒm plɛks, ˈi də-/ .
Words Nearby Oedipus complex
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use Oedipus complex in a sentence
In this sense the Oedipus-complex is correctly designated as the nucleus of the neurosis.
A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis | Sigmund FreudBut even this factor cannot seriously undermine the spontaneous character of the childish Oedipus-complex.
A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis | Sigmund FreudBut it would be a vain endeavor to explain the whole of the Oedipus-complex by "imagining back," and as related to later times.
A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis | Sigmund FreudYou will remember that we were led to a similar alternative in the discussion of the Oedipus-complex.
A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis | Sigmund FreudOedipus complex: Over-strong bond between mother and son, or (more loosely) between father and daughter.
Outwitting Our Nerves | Josephine A. Jackson and Helen M. Salisbury
British Dictionary definitions for Oedipus complex
psychoanal a group of emotions, usually unconscious, involving the desire of a child, esp a male child, to possess sexually the parent of the opposite sex while excluding the parent of the same sex: Compare Electra complex
Derived forms of Oedipus complex
- oedipal or oedipean, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for Oedipus complex
[ (ed-uh-puhs, ee-duh-puhs) ]
In Freudian theory, the unconscious desire of a young child for sexual intercourse with the parent of the opposite sex, especially between boys and their mothers (see genital stage). Followers of the psychologist Sigmund Freud long believed that the Oedipus complex was common to all cultures, although many psychiatrists now refute this belief. The Oedipus complex is named after the mythical Oedipus, who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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