trope

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“
6. 1) that this must be with good effect (_cum virtute_); that is, it must add clearness, force, or beauty to the thought The principal varieties of the trope are the metonymy and the metaphor_.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways, such as a metaphor.
  2. noun A word or phrase interpolated as an embellishment in the sung parts of certain medieval liturgies.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (49)

  • But the trope has been worked to death, and the new book relies on yet another string of "couch scenes" to reveal the motives for their actions and to enable the plot. —  California Literary Review
  • In contemporary politics, nothing succeeds like excess, so permutations of Reagan's trope are going to recur. —  LJWorld.com stories: News
  • Sorta like a few days ago when the only proof available for a rw immigration trope was a Lou Dobbs show.
  • The trope, which is not just lefty, but mainstream Sociology, is that we're all (white, black, etc.) racist, because we're raised in a racially divided society with racist tropes suffused through the cultural mix. —  Acephalous
  • I get really annoyed with them in almost any media, but - like a zombie infestation - it seems that the zombie as a trope is impossible to exterminate. —  GameSpot's News, Screenshots, Movies, Reviews, Previews, Downloads, and Features
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This word has been looked up 351 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin tropus, from Greek tropos, turn, figure of speech; see trep- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French trope = Spanish Portuguese Italian tropo, from Latin tropus, a figure in rhetoric, a song, Middle Latin a versicle, from Greek τρόπος, a turn, way, manner, style, a trope or figure of speech, a mode in music, a mode or mood in logic, from τρέπειν, turn, =L. *trepere (trepit), turn. Cf. troper, trover, troubadour.
 

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/troʊp/
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