oedipal

American  

[ed-uh-puhl, ee-duh-] / ˈɛd ə pəl, ˈi də- /

adjective

(often initial capital letter)

1. of, characterized by, or resulting from the Oedipus complex.

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Etymology

Origin of oedipal

First recorded in 1935–40; Oedip(us complex) + -al ¹

Example Sentences

That Darth Vader revelation altered the drama from political animosity to Oedipal mythos.

From Los Angeles Times

Most involve George Gershwin: Levant’s friend, benefactor and bête noire, dead 20 years yet still a kind of Oedipal rival.

From New York Times

Rather than slotting in as a “horror” film, it can be categorized a little less neatly as a surreal three-hour Homeric odyssey about Jewish guilt, Oedipal angst and somebody named “Birthday Boy Stab Man.”

From Seattle Times

Then again, if there is a point to “Beau Is Afraid,” I suppose it’s that parent-child relationships, particularly mother-son relationships, are so elemental, so Oedipal, that there can be no rational understanding thereof.

From Los Angeles Times

In Ari Aster’s new film “ Beau is Afraid,” Joaquin Phoenix plays an anxious man in a rotten world who goes on a wildly weird journey, both Homeric and Oedipal, to his mother’s home.

From Seattle Times