(in Freudian theory) a young boy's unconscious sexual attraction to his mother and the jealous feelings that this causes toward his father From the Greek story of Oedipus, whose father Laius had been told by the oracle that his son would kill him. Laius left Oedipus on a mountain to die, but a shepherd rescued him. Oedipus returned home many years later but did not recognize his parents. He killed his father and married his mother, Jocasta. compare Electra complex
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Check pronunciation: Oedipus complex