Frankenstein's monster

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

In Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein (1818), Dr. Frankenstein assembled a monster from human corpses; it eventually escaped his control.

Noun

Frankenstein's monster (plural Frankenstein's monsters)

  1. (figurative) A thing that is cobbled together from parts of other things.
    Synonyms: Frankenstein, frankenstein, Frankensteinian monster, frankensteinian monster
    • 1991, Euan George Nisbet, Living Earth: A Short History of Life and Its Home, page 84:
      Like the English language, the eukaryote cell is a chimera, a Frankenstein's monster, assembled from bits and pieces of genetic information...
    • 1995, Roger Horrocks, Jo Campling, Male Myths and Icons: Masculinity in Popular Culture, page 141:
      He is like a Frankenstein's monster in reverse: everything that is pretty is combined together to produce a perfect androgyne.
  2. (figurative) A creation that overpowers or slips out of the control of its creator, often proceeding to turn on its creator or harm others.
    • 1968, Harold Joseph Laski, Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time, page 109:
      They created a Frankenstein's monster which they did not imagine could grow out of their control.
    • 1977, Norman R. Augustine, Augustine's Laws, page 68:
      Somehow, the law does not always seem to serve those who created it, becoming at times a Frankenstein's monster of sorts.

Translations

Translations

Proper noun

Frankenstein's monster

  1. The creature from Mary Shelley's novel.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.