Trope - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: Trope

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

trope

–noun

Rhetoric.

a.	any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense.

b.	an instance of this. Compare figure of speech.

2.	a phrase, sentence, or verse formerly interpolated in a liturgical text to amplify or embellish.

3.	(in the philosophy of Santayana) the principle of organization according to which matter moves to form an object during the various stages of its existence.

[Origin: 1525–35; < L tropus figure in rhetoric < Gk trópos turn, turning, turn or figure of speech, akin to trépein to turn

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Trope

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

trope Audio Help (trōp) Pronunciation Key
n.

A figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways, such as a metaphor.
A word or phrase interpolated as an embellishment in the sung parts of certain medieval liturgies.

[Latin tropus, from Greek tropos, turn, figure of speech; see trep- in Indo-European roots.]

trop'i·cal (trō'pĭ-kəl) adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
trope

1533, from L. tropus "a figure of speech," from Gk. tropos "turn, direction, turn or figure of speech," related to trope "a turning" and tropein "to turn," from PIE base trep- "to turn" (cf. Skt. trapate "is ashamed, confused," prop. "turns away in shame;" L. trepit "he turns"). Technically, in rhetoric, a figure of speech which consists in the use of a word or phrase in a sense other than that which is proper to it.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

trope
noun
language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Trope

He"li*o*trope\, n. [F. h['e]liotrope, L. heliotropium, Gr. ?; ? the sun + ? to turn, ? turn. See Heliacal, Trope.]

1. (Anc. Astron.) An instrument or machine for showing when the sun arrived at the tropics and equinoctial line.

2. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Heliotropium; -- called also turnsole and girasole. H. Peruvianum is the commonly cultivated species with fragrant flowers.

3. (Geodesy & Signal Service) An instrument for making signals to an observer at a distance, by means of the sun's rays thrown from a mirror.

4. (Min.) See Bloodstone (a) .

Heliotrope purple, a grayish purple color.

Acronym Finder - Cite This Source - Share This

TROPE

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