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Definition of procrustean  - 3 dictionary results

Pro⋅crus⋅te⋅an

  [proh-kruhs-tee-uhn]
Use procrustean in a Sentence
–adjective
1. pertaining to or suggestive of Procrustes.
2. (often lowercase) tending to produce conformity by violent or arbitrary means.
Origin:
1840–50; Procruste(s) + -an
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Pro·crus·te·an also pro·crus·te·an   (prō-krŭs'tē-ən)   
adj.  Producing or designed to produce strict conformity by ruthless or arbitrary means.

[After Procrustes, a mythical Greek giant who stretched or shortened captives to make them fit his beds, from Latin Procrustēs, from Greek Prokroustēs, from prokrouein, hammer out, to stretch out : pro-, forth; see pro-2 + krouein, to beat.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Procrustean 
1846 in figurative sense of "aiming to produce conformity by arbitrary means," from Procrustes (1583), mythical robber of Attica who seized travelers, tied them to his bed, and either stretched their limbs or lopped of their legs to make them fit it. The name is Gk. Prokroustes "one who stretches," from prokrouein "to beat out, stretch out," from pro- "before" + krouein "to strike."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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