oedipal
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of oedipal
First recorded in 1935–40; Oedip(us complex) + -al 1
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.
It was oedipal rebellion against the father in his own house.
From Salon ● May 16, 2022
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.
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.
