noun
also oedipus “
( plural oedipus complexes also oedipuses )
Usage: usually capitalized O
Etymology: German Ödipuskomplex, after Ödipus (Oedipus), Theban hero of ancient Greek legend who slew his father and married his mother, from Latin Oedipus, from Greek Oidipous
1. : the positive especially libidinal feelings that a child develops usually between the ages of three and six toward the parent of the opposite sex and that are largely repressed because of the fear of retaliation by the parent of the same sex who is viewed as a rival and toward whom unconscious hostility is generated — used especially of the male child; see electra complex
2. : the unresolved oedipal feelings persisting into adult life that are conceived as a source of personality disorder