Dictionary

Stepfordian en · ADJ

Etymology

From Stepford + -ian.

Meanings

1. Resembling or characteristic of a Stepford wife; lacking personality or agency; docile.
   • She's so completely submitted herself to this Stepfordian world, to this Betty Crocker persona, that she can't fathom why he would stray from it - we see this when she later asks, quite honestly: "Do you hate me, Don?" 2010, Will Dean, editor, The Ultimate Guide to Mad Men, page 123:
   • But Piazza, whose flattened affect is ideally suited to pitching an oceanic array of products, makes such come-hither antics as posing shirtless for Sports Illustrated Women seem utterly Stepfordian. Indeed, he brings major rasa to the tabula. 2002 August, Jeff Z. Klein, “Who Cares If He's Gay? Mike Piazza's a Big Sellout”, in Details, page 52:
   • These gals are not wrapped up in some pert, Stepfordian happee homemaking bonanza. 1989 September 18, Sarah Pettit, “Tying the Knot (Noose?)”, in OutWeek, page 39:
2. Resembling or characteristic of the fictional town of Stepford; artificially perfect or pleasant; false.
   • Co-starring Rory Culkin and Jamie Bell, it takes place in “a perfect neighborhood with perfect Monopoly houses,” she says. But scratch the Stepfordian surface, and you'll find all kinds of misery and dysfunction lurking. 2005 March, Danielle Pergament, “Camilla Belle”, in Interview, page 97:
   • Aside from the utopian vibe there was a relentless Stepfordian positivity so that even that last traditional bastion of critical thought—gossipping about coworkers—was well out of bounds. 2010, Franklin Schneider, Canned: How I Lost Ten Jobs in Ten Years and Learn to Love Unemployment, page 249:
   • I like a good apocalypse as much as the next American, which is why I’ll be braving the Stepfordian horrors of the local mall for the opening of 2012, Roland Emmerich’s latest exercise in disaster porn. 2012, Mark Dery, I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts: Drive-By Essays on American Dread, American Dreams, page 188:

Forms

Synonyms

Stepfordesque