Frankenstein

[frang-kuhn-stahyn]

noun

1. a person who creates a monster or a destructive agency that cannot be controlled or that brings about the creator's ruin.

2. Also called Frankenstein monster. the monster or destructive agency itself.

Frankenstein

/ ˈfræŋkɪnˌstaɪn /

noun

1. a person who creates something that brings about his ruin

2. Also called: Frankenstein's monster. a thing that destroys its creator

Frankenstein

1. (1818) A novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The title character, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, makes a manlike monster from parts of cadavers and brings it to life by the power of an electrical charge. Frankenstein's monster is larger than most men and fantastically strong.

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Frankenstein¹

First recorded in 1830–40; after a character in Mary Shelley's novel of the same name (1818)

Word History and Origins

Origin of Frankenstein¹

C19: after Baron Frankenstein , who created a destructive monster from parts of corpses in the novel by Mary Shelley (1818)

Example Sentences

Before he learns speech, before he learns cruelty, before he learns the terrible weight of a creator’s indifference, The Creature in “Frankenstein” learns hunger.

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“At some point Dr. Frankenstein has to come face-to-face with his monster,” Porges said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Just look at the anarchic energy of The Spice Girls' Wannabe, or the seven-part pop Frankenstein that was Girls Aloud's Biology and ask yourself, "Could Westlife have pulled that off?"

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It also opened a Pandora's Box of controversial scientific and ethical issues - including human cloning, designer babies and "Frankenstein foods".

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Or worse, they see, a jobs killer and mad scientist intent on making Frankenstein.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• behemoth 
• freak 
• giant 
• whale