Frankenstein's monster

plural Frankenstein's monsters · alternative Frankenstein monster · alternative frankenstein monster

1. figurativelyA thing that is cobbled together from parts of other things.

   He is like a Frankenstein's monster in reverse: everything that is pretty is combined together to produce a perfect androgyne.

   1995, Roger Horrocks, Jo Campling, Male Myths and Icons: Masculinity in Popular Culture, page 141

   1 more example

   Like the English language, the eukaryote cell is a chimera, a Frankenstein's monster, assembled from bits and pieces of genetic information...

   1991, Euan George Nisbet, Living Earth: A Short History of Life and Its Home, page 84

   Synonyms: Frankenstein, frankenstein, Frankensteinian monster, frankensteinian monster

2. figurativelyA creation that overpowers or slips out of the control of its creator, often proceeding to turn on its creator or harm others.

   They created a Frankenstein's monster which they did not imagine could grow out of their control.

   1968, Harold Joseph Laski, Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time, page 109

   1 more example

   Somehow, the law does not always seem to serve those who created it, becoming at times a Frankenstein's monster of sorts.

   1977, Norman R. Augustine, Augustine's Laws, page 68

alternative Frankenstein monster · alternative frankenstein monster

1. The creature from Mary Shelley's novel.