oral stage

1. According to psychoanalysis, the first social and sexual stage of an infant's development, during which the infant focuses on satisfying hunger. Psychoanalysts believe that during this stage, the mouth is the focus of the libido; eating, sexual, and aggressive drives are satisfied by chewing, suckling, and biting. (See also anal stage, genital stage, and pleasure principle.)

Example Sentences

Was I mired in the “oral stage”? Past my aching mandible I coughed up a few repressed childhood memories.

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Freudian fixation in the oral stage of infancy?

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