Etymology

Stepford wife

Today it means: A woman who unquestioningly submits to and serves her male partner, and/or does not seem to have interests, wishes, or pursuits of her own. Full definition →

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The story

From the 1972 novel The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (adapted into a 1975 film of the same name), in which a woman moves to the fictional town of Stepford, Connecticut and discovers its eerily docile housewives are android replacements.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.