trope

1 of 2

noun

1
a
: a word or expression used in a figurative sense : figure of speech
b
: a common or overused theme or device : cliché
the usual horror movie tropes
2
: a phrase or verse added as an embellishment or interpolation to the sung parts of the Mass in the Middle Ages

-trope

2 of 2

noun combining form

: body characterized by (such) a state
allotrope

Examples of trope in a Sentence

Noun a screenplay that reads like a catalog of mystery-thriller tropes
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Despite going for some pretty broad tropes in the setup, Calderón Kellett is proving herself worthy of carrying the late master’s torch into the realm of theater. Chris Willman, Variety, 24 Mar. 2024 The film’s title references a trope in films and television, coined by Spike Lee, in which Black secondary characters exist solely to help white primary characters. Lisa Respers France, CNN, 12 Mar. 2024 The shapes nodded to paper doll versions of couture tropes, so the New Look skirts, cocoon dresses, egg coats all looked as if they had been made of construction paper (or a leather or wool version of it) and a flocked velvet print resembled a scribble. Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 25 Feb. 2024 This adaptation demands re-conceiving large chunks of plot from the ground-up while retaining Liu’s themes, not to mention visualizing concepts with less precedent onscreen than the fantasy tropes Martin deployed and subverted. Alison Herman, Variety, 9 Mar. 2024 Considering that Conan O’Brien made a name for himself by subverting TV comedy tropes in the ‘90s, people were ready for something weird when the comedian kicked off the eighth annual Love Rocks NYC benefit concert at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre on Thursday (March 7). Joe Lynch, Billboard, 8 Mar. 2024 But Glass pressed the action into the sensational tropes of horror and left the characters and the subject undeveloped. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2024 Boarders, though, consistently manages to both fit into the old tropes and reinvent the clichés to fit around these characters. Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 8 Mar. 2024 Unlike such contemporary filmmakers as Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner, who recycled genre tropes in fresh ways to produce modern classics, Van Peebles mainly seems interested in posturing. Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trope.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from Latin tropus "figure of speech" (Medieval Latin, "embellishment to the sung parts of the Mass"), borrowed from Greek trópos "turn, way, manner, style, figurative expression," noun derivative from the base of trépein "to turn," probably going back to Indo-European *trep-, whence also Sanskrit trapate "(s/he) is ashamed, becomes perplexed," Hittite te-ri-ip-zi "(s/he) ploughs"

Note: Also compared is Latin trepit, glossed as vertit "(s/he) turns," but as this form is only attested in the lexicon of the grammarian Sextus Pompeius Festus, it may be a reconstruction based on the Greek word. The word tropes (genitive case) in the Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History is an isolated instance; the word was reborrowed from Latin or Greek in the 16th century.

Noun combining form

borrowed from Greek -tropos "turned, directed, living (in the manner indicated)," adjective derivative of trópos "turn, way, manner, style" — more at trope

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of trope was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near trope

Cite this Entry

“Trope.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trope. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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