codependentn.
/ˌkəʊdᵻˈpɛnd(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˌkoʊdəˈpɛnd(ə)nt/, /ˌkoʊdiˈpɛnd(ə)nt/ Originally U.S.
A person with an excessive emotional or psychological reliance on another person (typically a partner or close relative), esp. one with an illness or addiction requiring care or support.
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1979 N. S. Archer in Labor-managem. Alcoholism Jrnl. Sept. 80/2 The data indicate that both treatment and aftercare are positive forces in the lives of co-dependents.
1995 Kindred Spirit Sept. 36/4 As one of the most famous recovering co-dependents in the world, does she think that, freed from personal co-dependent relationships, she is now engaged in ‘caretaking’ on a much wider scale, through her books?
2001 Evening Post (Bristol) (Nexis) 17 Mar. 15 Most codependents have spent so long taking care of others they don't even know what their interests are.
2019 Guardian (Nexis) 21 June Luther is a chronic gambling addict and Grace and Frank are his codependents.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
codependentadj.
/ˌkəʊdᵻˈpɛnd(ə)nt/, U.S. /ˌkoʊdəˈpɛnd(ə)nt/, /ˌkoʊdiˈpɛnd(ə)nt/ 1. Of two or more entities, mathematical or logical objects, or their values: dependent on each other; dependent in the same way on some common factor or principle.
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1828 W. Crawford Fates of Alceus Pref. p. viii If any co-dependant with myself on your favour..should dare [etc.].
1874 Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1872 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 406 The interests of agriculture and manufacture must be codependent.
1958 Z. S. Altschuler et al. Geochem. Uranium in Apatite & Phosphorite (U.S. Geol. Surv. Professional Paper 314–D) 52/1 Secondary uptake of fluorine and uranium are codependent and related to the same geological process.
1982 Biometrika 69 518 Generation times in sister cells of Chilodonella steini are regular linearly codependent.
2005 Brisbane News 1 Mar. 24/3 A message one could glean is of how co-dependent the West, especially the US, and a few Middle Eastern states are on the world's finite supplies of oil.
2010 D. A. Pachamanova & F. J. Fabozzi Simulation & Optimization in Finance iii. 81 While covariance and correlation are very useful measures of dependence,..they do not paint a complete picture of how random variables are codependent, and can sometimes be misleading.
2. Mathematics. Of an element h of a group G: such that the right coset Gh, consisting of all multiples of h on the right by elements of G, only satisfies certain conditions if they are also satisfied by the group G as a whole. With on (the group). rare.
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1963 Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 14 649 A necessary and sufficient condition that each closed right ideal of S be acyclic is that each a in S be right codependent on S.
3. Originally U.S. Of or relating to codependency; (of a person) emotionally or psychologically reliant on another person (typically a partner or close relative), esp. one with an illness or addiction requiring care or support.
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1982 S. Smalley Co-dependency 3 Co-dependent patterns of life can be seen expressed cross-culturally and in all age groups.
1986 A. W. Schaef Co-dependence: Misunderstood-Mistreated iv. 61 The most obvious example of co-dependent gullibility is seen in the spouse of the alcoholic who continues to believe that..things will change.
1990 Independent 17 Jan. 13/1 Being co-dependent means you never fulfil your own potential. Co-dependent people make..supportive spouses.
2017 B. Lang et al. in Hist. Case Study 217 A narrative about a codependent, sadomasochistic relationship between a young man and a strong, older woman.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1979adj.1828