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

Now the towering ceiling of their new Hollywood soundstage was making even the 36-inch set piece feel diminutive. —Julia Black, Vanity Fair, 8 Jan. 2026

Guests will also be able to explore recreated set pieces, including a Tribal Council fire pit, a voting confessional booth and a Winner's Wall designed for photo ops. —Cbs Miami Team, CBS News, 7 Jan. 2026

Its first season’s defining set piece plunged the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center’s emergency department into the aftermath of a mass shooting, an act of narrative escalation that felt like the writers’ room emptying its reserves. —Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 6 Jan. 2026

Park stages Man-su’s homicide attempts as slapstick set pieces in which our clumsy antihero himself barely gets out alive. —Los Angeles Times, 6 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1834, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for set piece

• apiece
• aris
• assise
• caprice
• cerise
• decease
• decrease
• eyepiece
• facepiece
• handpiece
• headpiece
• increase