Frankenstein

[ frang-kuhn-stahyn ]

noun

1. a person who creates a monster or a destructive agency that cannot be controlled or that brings about the creator's ruin.
2. Also called Frankenstein monster. the monster or destructive agency itself.

Frankenstein

/ ˈfræŋkɪnˌstaɪn /

noun

1. a person who creates something that brings about his ruin
2. Also calledFrankenstein's monster a thing that destroys its creator

Frankenstein

1. (1818) A novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The title character , Dr. Victor Frankenstein, makes a manlike monster from parts of cadavers and brings it to life by the power of an electrical charge . Frankenstein's monster is larger than most men and fantastically strong.

Notes

Frequently the subject of horror films, the monster is usually pictured with an oversized square brow, metal bolts in his neck and forehead, and greenish skin. People often mistakenly refer to the monster, rather than to his creator, as “Frankenstein.”

Derived Forms

• ˌFrankenˈsteinian, adjective

Other Word Forms

• Frank·en·stein·i·an [frang-k, uh, n-, stahy, -nee-, uh, n], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Frankenstein¹

First recorded in 1830–40; after a character in Mary Shelley's novel of the same name (1818)

Word History and Origins

Origin of Frankenstein¹

C19: after Baron Frankenstein , who created a destructive monster from parts of corpses in the novel by Mary Shelley (1818)

Example Sentences

The land surrounding Frankenstein’s castle is a joy to peruse, as spooky imagery is used to hint at something more mystical.

From Los Angeles Times

Then, at his busiest, with a wife and three children impatiently waiting at home, he wheedled Mel Brooks for a cameo in “Young Frankenstein.”

From Los Angeles Times

But that orange glitch in the Matrix, that reality-TV Frankenstein — he is too big of a stain, too much of a mistake to bear.

From Salon

That’s why they feel that now is the time to urgently decide how we want to regulate work that might produce such little Frankenstein’s monsters.

From Salon

In that world, Thomas argues, people only trust “their” evidence and “languish in a perversely post-modern Frankenstein world of no facts matter—unless they are mine.”

From Salon

Related Words

• behemoth
• freak
• giant
• whale