Oedipus complex

Named after Oedipus in Greek mythology, who unwittingly killed his father and married his mother.

• IPA^(key): /ˈidəpəs ˈkɒmplɛks/

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• IPA^(key): /ˈɛdəpəs ˈkɒmplɛks/

Oedipus complex (plural Oedipus complexes)

1. (psychoanalysis) In Freudian theory, the complex of emotions aroused in a child by an unconscious sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex.
   • 1957, S[idney] J[oseph] Perelman, “Cloudland Revisited: Vintage Swine”, in The Road to Miltown: Or, Under the Spreading Atrophy (A Touchstone Book), 1st Touchstone paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, published 1971, →ISBN, page 88:

     He never palliated his villainy, never helped old ladies across the street to show that he was a sweet kid au fond or prated about his Oedipus complex like the Percy boys who portray heavies today.

• Oedipal

• Electra complex