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trope

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trope

  [trohp] ,
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–noun
1. 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
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-trope

 
a combining form meaning “one turned toward” that specified by the initial element (heliotrope); also occurring in concrete nouns that correspond to abstract nouns ending in -tropy or -tropism: allotrope.
Origin:
< Gk -tropos; see trope, tropo-
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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trope   (trōp)   
n.  

  1. A figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways, such as a metaphor.

  2. 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

trope

in medieval church music, melody, explicatory text, or both added to a plainchant melody. Tropes are of two general types: those adding a new text to a melisma (section of music having one syllable extended over many notes); and those inserting new music, usually with words, between existing sections of melody and text.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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