Frankenstein
Americannoun
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a person who creates a monster or a destructive agency that cannot be controlled or that brings about the creator's ruin.
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Also called Frankenstein monster. the monster or destructive agency itself.
noun
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a person who creates something that brings about his ruin
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Also called: Frankenstein's monster. a thing that destroys its creator
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Frequently the subject of horror films, the monster is usually pictured with an oversized square brow, metal bolts in his neck and forehead, and greenish skin. People often mistakenly refer to the monster, rather than to his creator, as “Frankenstein.”
Other Word Forms
- Frankensteinian adjective
Etymology
Origin of Frankenstein
First recorded in 1830–40; after a character in Mary Shelley's novel of the same name (1818)
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.
Guillermo, in adapting “Frankenstein,” did you feel like you were dealing with the Mary Shelley text and also all the Frankenstein movies that we know?
From Los Angeles Times
Villarreal: He plays the brilliant but egotistical scientist Victor Frankenstein, who creates life with this monstrous experiment, and the result is the Creature, played by Jacob Elordi.
From Los Angeles Times
Owens is a classic case of a Frankenstein’s monster, turning on the very people who created her.
From Salon
But in playing the Creature in “Frankenstein,” this amalgamation of parts, your character’s really in a process of discovery.
From Los Angeles Times
“Hamnet” earned six nominations, and “Frankenstein” five, with Jacob Elordi landing nods for both the film and the series “The Narrow Road to the Deep North.”
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.
