trope

Meanings

Noun

• Something recurring across a genre or type of art or literature, such as the ‘mad scientist’ of horror movies or the use of the phrase ‘once upon a time’ as an introduction to fairy tales; a motif.
• An addition (of dialogue, song, music, etc.) to a standard element of the liturgy, serving as an embellishment.
• A figure of speech in which words or phrases are used with a nonliteral or figurative meaning, such as a metaphor.

Verb

• To use, or embellish something with, a trope.
• To think or write in terms of tropes.

Related

Similar words

• tropify

Origin

• From Latin tropus, from Ancient Greek τρόπος ("a manner, style#Noun"), related to τροπή and τρέπειν; compare [[turn of phrase. The verb is derived from the noun.