Frankenstein

[ frang-kuhn-stahyn ]

/ ˈfræŋ kənˌstaɪn /

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See synonyms for Frankenstein on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

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

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of Frankenstein

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

OTHER WORDS FROM Frankenstein

Frank·en·stein·i·an, adjective

Words nearby Frankenstein

frankalmoign, Frank, Anne, franked investment income, franked mail, Franken-, Frankenstein, Frankenstein food, Frankenthaler, Frankfort, Frankfort on the Main, Frankfort on the Oder

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Frankenstein in a sentence

Driggs highlights the problem of what he calls Frankenstein data sets, which are spliced together from multiple sources and can contain duplicates.
Hundreds of AI tools have been built to catch covid. None of them helped.|Will Douglas Heaven|July 30, 2021|MIT Technology Review
It’s easy for products like these to become a Frankenstein’s monster of fancy features.
Sony WF-1000XM4 wireless earbuds review: Impressive performance at a price|Stan Horaczek|July 13, 2021|Popular-Science
The Frankenstein project, The Transformations of the Transformations of the Drs.
The Next Ava DuVernays|Sean Culligan|April 25, 2021|Ozy
The prompt resulted in Mary Shelley penning Frankenstein while still a teenager.
Scandalous Love Affairs That Changed History|Nick Fouriezos|April 14, 2021|Ozy

“QAnon has morphed into something, like a Frankenstein, that defies existing categories of harmful content for the platforms,” François said.
As QAnon grew, Facebook and Twitter missed years of warning signs about the conspiracy theory’s violent nature|Craig Timberg, Elizabeth Dwoskin|October 1, 2020|Washington Post
From Psycho to Frankenstein, watch scenes from the director's 10 favorite creepy classics.
Wes Craven's Favorite Scary Movies|Wes Craven|October 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The hybrid alliance is something of a Frankenstein monster where every arm imagines itself the brain.
With Friends Like These, ISIS Is Doomed|Jacob Siegel|July 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When I think of Frankenstein, I have these visions of Robert De Niro in awful makeup.
Daniel Radcliffe on Sex, ‘Harry Potter,’ and Complicated Relationships|Marlow Stern|July 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Hice is like the Republican version of a right-wing Frankenstein, featuring the worst elements of the GOP jammed into one person.
Jody Hice: Mr. Bigot Goes to Washington?|Dean Obeidallah|June 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
More laughs per minute than any other movie ever made—until Young Frankenstein, that is.
Mel Brooks Is Always Funny and Often Wise in This 1975 Playboy Interview|Alex Belth|February 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Mary, now that Frankenstein was off her hands, busied herself in writing out the journal of their first travels.
The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume I (of 2)|Florence A. Thomas Marshall
I have also finished the fourth chapter of Frankenstein, which is a very long one, and I think you would like it.
The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume I (of 2)|Florence A. Thomas Marshall
Barth, laughing, had assured him that there was no Frankenstein business of robbing graveyards and implanting brains in machines.
The Tunnel Under The World|Frederik Pohl
She wrote some half dozen novels and stories, the best of which was "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus."
A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year|Edwin Emerson
In short, he was discovering already that he had unwittingly created a monster beside which Frankenstein's was the veriest doll.
The Lieutenant-Governor|Guy Wetmore Carryl

British Dictionary definitions for Frankenstein

Frankenstein

/ (ˈfræŋkɪnˌstaɪn) /

noun

a person who creates something that brings about his ruin

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

Derived forms of Frankenstein

Frankensteinian, adjective

Word Origin for Frankenstein

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

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 Frankenstein

Frankenstein

(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.

notes for Frankenstein

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.”