castration anxiety, 1. (in Freudian psychoanalytic theory) the fantasized fear of injury or loss of the genital organs, often as the reaction to a repressed feeling of punishment for forbidden sexual desires. It may also be caused by some apparently threatening everyday occurrence, such as a humiliating experience, loss of a job, or loss of authority. 2. a general threat to the masculinity or femininity of a person or an unrealistic fear of bodily injury or loss of power. Compare penis envy. See also anxiety disorder.
