a parent’s habitual use of punishment to teach or control a child, often involving harsh or coercive practices such as yelling at, threatening, pushing, grabbing, hitting, or verbally disparaging the child.
a personality characterized by a hostile or competitive attitude to others and the pursuit of power, prestige, and material possessions. Karen D. Horney defined the development of such a character as one of three basic neurotic trends used as a defense against basic anxiety. Compare compliant character; detached character.