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.

---

Etymology

Origin of oedipal

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

Example Sentences

In this oedipal moment, as his father passes and his brother ascends, the future king confesses his pain – from the nanny who withheld love to the brother everyone adored.

From Salon • Feb. 28, 2021

This oedipal struggle has tended to crowd us out; as the New Yorker writer Emily Nussbaum pointed out, Generation X is now sometimes forgotten altogether in articles pondering generational difference.

From The Guardian • Feb. 20, 2019

At no time during director Peyton Reed’s concoction does a viewer feel he’s not being played by a movie that’s equal parts revenge tale, redemptive parable, apocalyptic thriller and cornucopia of oedipal clichés.

From Time • Jul. 14, 2015

M is an imperious, subtly oedipal intelligence-matriarch with the double-O boys under her thumb.

From New York Times • Nov. 8, 2012

In accordance with the psychoanalytic model, family members were oral, anal, oedipal, latent, homosexual, adolescent, heterosexual, and/or mature.

From Humanistic Nursing by Paterson, Josephine G.