Meanings
comparative more anal-retentive · superlative most anal-retentive
- Freudianhuman sciencesPreoccupied with achieving perfection, order and control and with collecting, possessing, and retaining objects.
- broadlyOverly obsessive concerning small details.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From anal + retentive. First use appears c. 1936 in the writings of Marjorie Brierley. From the Freudian concept of the anal stage (roughly synonymous with toddlerhood), according to which children who are strictly punished for episodes of (especially fecal) incontinence during toilet-training eventually learn to retain forcefully their excreta, in order to avoid punishment; as a result, they develop ultimately in life a strong distaste for any kind of mess, disorder, imperfection, or lack of control. Compare anal-expulsive, which is the opposite extreme.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish anaalis-retentiivinen, anaalis-retentiivinen
- anaalis-retentiivinenpreoccupied with achieving order
- anaalis-retentiivinenoverly obsessive concerning small details
German analfixiert, pingelig
- analfixiertpreoccupied with achieving order
- pingeligpreoccupied with achieving order
- ordnungsliebendpreoccupied with achieving order
- minutiöspreoccupied with achieving order
- genaupreoccupied with achieving order
- akribischpreoccupied with achieving order
- peinlichpreoccupied with achieving order
- etepetetepreoccupied with achieving order
- bürgerlichpreoccupied with achieving order
- spießigpreoccupied with achieving order
- kleinlichoverly obsessive concerning small details
- pedantischoverly obsessive concerning small details
Portuguese anal-retentivo, controlador
- anal-retentivopreoccupied with achieving order
- controladoroverly obsessive concerning small details
- neuróticooverly obsessive concerning small details
- obsessivooverly obsessive concerning small details
Cite this entry
anal-retentive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anal-retentive
“anal-retentive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anal-retentive. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “anal-retentive,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/anal-retentive.
Source: anal-retentive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.