frankenstein
noun · verb
Simple meaning
The monster created by Frankenstein in a gothic novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
frangkuhnstynSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfɹæŋkənstaɪn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
fiction
The monster created by Frankenstein in a gothic novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (the creator's name is commonly used to refer to his creation)
fiction
Victor Frankenstein, a fictional character and the main protagonist and title character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
fiction
The fictional Swiss scientist who was the protagonist in a gothic novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley; he created a monster from parts of corpses
sometimes proscribed
A monster composed of body parts from various corpses attached and brought back to life by a mad scientist, typically strong, unable to speak clearly, and misunderstood.
Various small towns in Germany.
verb
transitivecolloquial
To combine two or more similar elements into a consistent entity, or a cohesive idea.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The monster created by Frankenstein in a gothic novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (the creator's name is commonly used to refer to his creation)
Used this way, frankenstein is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Literature/storytelling
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The monster created by Frankenstein in a gothic novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (the creator's name is commonly used to refer to his creation).
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.