Stepford

/ ˈstɛpˌfəd /

adjective

1. blandly conformist and submissive

   a Stepford employee

noun

1. a married woman who submits to her husband's will and is preoccupied by domestic concerns and her own personal appearance

Word History and Origins

Origin of Stepford¹

C20: from The Stepford Wives (1972), a book by US writer Ira Levin which depicted a neighbourhood in which men turn their wives into placid and obedient robots

Example Sentences

The late 1960s and ‘70s delivered a host of classic horror films, from “Rosemary’s Baby” to “The Exorcist” to “The Stepford Wives” to “Alien.”

From Los Angeles Times

In other words, I was never built to be a peacetime queer who plays make-nice in a Stepford Americana.

From Salon

In other words, I was never built to be a peacetime queer who plays make-nice in a Stepford Americana.

From Salon

Given the context — liberal Northerners camped among conservative Southerners — one might have expected a “Stepford Wives” scenario, but this is something different.

From Los Angeles Times

When he hosts a dinner party for his underlings, it's a tour de force of grotesque aspiration: there’s a holographic Stepford wife, promises to retire to “le ball pit” after dinner and a main course of lovingly fried rat.

From Salon