English vocabulary · B2
Trope
/troʊp/ · n.
A trope is an idea that keeps showing up in stories and movies. You already know what happens next.
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Example sentences
- The chosen one is a classic trope.
- This movie uses every romance trope.
Word origin and roots
from Greek
- trope — turn (from Greek)
Synonyms and nuances
- CLICHÉ — an idea used so often it feels old (Too Common Now)
- MOTIF — a theme that repeats through a work (A Repeated Idea)
- STEREOTYPE — a fixed idea about a type of person (A Fixed Idea)
Words with the same root
trope — turn
- trophy — an award given for winning
- tropic — relating to the hot regions near the equator
- entropy — a measure of disorder or randomness
Lesson notes
A trope is an idea that keeps showing up in stories and movies. You already know what happens next.
Related: cliché, motif, stereotype. Use trope when the same idea repeats.
The chosen one is a classic trope. This movie uses every romance trope.
From Greek. Trope- means turn. The same idea turns up again and again — that is a trope.