set piece

noun

plural set pieces

1

a

: a composition (as in literature, art, or music) executed in a fixed or ideal form often with studied artistry and brilliant effect

b

: a scene, depiction, speech, or event that is obviously designed to have an imposing effect

2

: a realistic piece of stage scenery standing by itself

3

: a precisely planned and conducted military operation

an offensive set piece that caught the enemy off guard

4

sports : a carefully planned sequence of movements performed by the members of a team (as in soccer)

A set piece can be used on either a direct or indirect type of [free] kick, providing one of the few times during the game that a team can execute something that it may have spent hours practicing.

—Doug Roberson

set-piece

ˈset-ˌpēs 

adjective

Examples of set piece in a Sentence

a movie with some lovely set pieces

She scored with a set piece.

Recent Examples on the Web

But other set pieces left us scratching our heads, specifically when the action shifted across town to the University of Texas at Austin for performances by Jason Aldean, Bailey Zimmerman, Old Dominion, and more. —Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 8 Apr. 2024

These shots get smoother as the film progresses and the climactic showdown in the VIP bar is a gorgeously fluid set piece, soundtracked to the churning guitars of Indian folk-metal band Bloodywood. —Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024

The larcenous prattle is, in this sense, a typically Wiig-ian set piece: sunny, strained and flailing for dignity. —Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2024

The overhead set piece also features patterns found on quilts hung outside houses, quietly marking them as stations of the Underground Railroad. —Naveen Kumar, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2024

The crew built the worm into a 90-foot-long by 24-foot-wide set piece. —Zack Sharf, Variety, 27 Mar. 2024

Our crew pushing bounds and creating set pieces, outfits, hairstyles, and music that were often unexpected and always first-rate. —Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024

Torres’s real mother designed set pieces for his film, including a fantastical playground that appears in flashbacks to Alejandro’s youth. —Sonia Rao, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024

Villeneuve is adept at staging grand-scale battles, but the movie’s best set piece is the climactic tooth-and-nail face-off between Paul and this grinning gargoyle. —Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1834, in the meaning defined at sense 1a