Oedipal Complex (Noun)
Meaning
A complex of males; desire to possess the mother sexually and to exclude the father; said to be a source of personality disorders if unresolved.
Classification
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions.
Examples
- The psychologist believed that the patient's oedipal complex was the root cause of his troubled relationship with his father.
- His unresolved oedipal complex led to a series of failed relationships with women who resembled his mother.
- The oedipal complex is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud to describe the unconscious desires of children towards the opposite-sex parent.
- According to Freud, the oedipal complex typically arises in children between the ages of three and six.
- The boy's oedipal complex was evident in the way he competed with his father for his mother's attention and affection.