anal retentive personality
- noun
- /ˈeɪnəl rɪˈtɛntɪv pərˈsənəlɪti/
- Specialized
:
personalidad anal retentiva
- Her anal retentive personality makes her insist that everything is organized perfectly at all times.
Examples
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People with an anal retentive personality are often described as overly cautious and perfectionistic.
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His anal retentive personality sometimes leads to conflict with more relaxed colleagues.
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Her anal retentive personality makes her very organized.
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Many people find his anal retentive personality quite annoying.
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People with an anal retentive personality often prefer strict routines and schedules.
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His anal retentive personality made him very particular about how his workspace was organized.
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Many find that an anal retentive personality leads to high levels of organization but can also create stress.
Synonyms
1
9.5
A person who is very tidy, likes control, and is often stubborn
A person who needs things very neat and repeats actions until they feel right
How Orderly
- Specialized
- Specialized
3
3.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
anal + retentive + personality
The parts 'anal' (referring to the psychoanalytic anal stage or the anatomical area) and 'retentive' (tending to hold or retain) give a plausible hint of control, holding back, or fixated behaviour, so a learner could partially infer a personality trait involving strict control or meticulousness. However, the full idiomatic/clinical sense — excessive orderliness and reserve rooted in psychoanalytic theory — is not fully predictable from the words alone for an average B1 learner, making the phrase only partially transparent.
Etymology
Anal retentive personality comes from an old idea by Sigmund Freud about children's toilet training. The word anal points to that toilet stage and retentive means 'holding things in', so it brings the image of a child who holds in their poop and grows up very strict and tidy. So today the phrase describes someone who is 'very orderly, controlling, and perfectionist'.