Stepford
Britishadjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of Stepford
C20: from The Stepford Wives (1972), a book by US writer Ira Levin which depicted a neighbourhood in which men turn their wives into placid and obedient robots
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.
Then there are the big things that are off, like Nina’s wild mood swings and the vicious gossip about her mental health among the other Stepford wives of the area.
From Los Angeles Times
The late 1960s and ‘70s delivered a host of classic horror films, from “Rosemary’s Baby” to “The Exorcist” to “The Stepford Wives” to “Alien.”
From Los Angeles Times
Given the context — liberal Northerners camped among conservative Southerners — one might have expected a “Stepford Wives” scenario, but this is something different.
From Los Angeles Times
When he hosts a dinner party for his underlings, it's a tour de force of grotesque aspiration: there’s a holographic Stepford wife, promises to retire to “le ball pit” after dinner and a main course of lovingly fried rat.
From Salon
As Nancy’s torn between being the picture-perfect housewife and the rebellious free thinker, Kidman recalls the sharp-tongued Joanna Eberhart from “The Stepford Wives,” who fought against her community’s robotic femininity until it consumed her.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.