codependent
codependent Lexical Profile
codependent Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Characterized by excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner, typically one who requires support on account of an illness or addiction.
"The therapist helped them recognize their codependent behavioral patterns and establish healthier personal boundaries."
Mutually dependent or relying on one another for existence, operation, or success.
"Pollinating insects and flowering plants have evolved a deeply codependent ecological relationship over millions of years."
• noun
A person who has an excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner, often enabling the partner's addiction, immaturity, or destructive behavior.
"Support groups provide a safe environment where codependents can learn to prioritize their own emotional well-being."
Word Nuance & Usage
Unlike 'interdependent', which describes a healthy, balanced mutual reliance, 'codependent' carries a distinctly negative psychological connotation of unhealthy attachment and enabling behavior.
• Rhymes for codependent
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 1970s within American addiction treatment and twelve-step recovery programs, originally formed by adding the prefix co- to dependent to describe partners who inadvertently enabled a family member's substance abuse.