trope

trope  (trp)

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.

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

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tropi·cal (trp-kl) adj.

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trope

Noun

a word or expression used in a figurative sense [Greek tropos style, turn]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

trope - language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense figure of speech, image, figure cakewalk - an easy accomplishment; "winning the tournament was a cakewalk for him"; "invading Iraq won't be a cakewalk" blind alley - (figurative) a course of action that is unproductive and offers no hope of improvement; "all the clues led the police into blind alleys"; "so far every road that we've been down has turned out to be a blind alley" megahit, smash hit, blockbuster - an unusually successful hit with widespread popularity and huge sales (especially a movie or play or recording or novel) sleeper - an unexpected hit; "that movie was the sleeper of the summer" home run, bell ringer, bull's eye, mark - something that exactly succeeds in achieving its goal; "the new advertising campaign was a bell ringer"; "scored a bull's eye"; "hit the mark"; "the president's speech was a home run" housecleaning - (figurative) the act of reforming by the removal of unwanted personnel or practices or conditions; "more housecleaning is in store at other accounting firms"; "many employees were discharged in a general housecleaning by the new owners" goldbrick - anything that is supposed to be valuable but turns out to be worthless lens - (metaphor) a channel through which something can be seen or understood; "the writer is the lens through which history can be seen" rhetorical device - a use of language that creates a literary effect (but often without regard for literal significance) conceit - an elaborate poetic image or a far-fetched comparison of very dissimilar things irony - a trope that involves incongruity between what is expected and what occurs exaggeration, hyperbole - extravagant exaggeration kenning - conventional metaphoric name for something, used especially in Old English and Old Norse poetry metaphor - a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity metonymy - substituting the name of an attribute or feature for the name of the thing itself (as in `they counted heads') oxymoron - conjoining contradictory terms (as in `deafening silence') prosopopoeia, personification - representing an abstract quality or idea as a person or creature simile - a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds (usually formed with `like' or `as') synecdoche - substituting a more inclusive term for a less inclusive one or vice versa zeugma - use of a word to govern two or more words though appropriate to only one; "`Mr. Pickwick took his hat and his leave' is an example of zeugma" domino effect - the consequence of one event setting off a chain of similar events (like a falling domino causing a whole row of upended dominos to fall) flip side - a different aspect of something (especially the opposite aspect); "the flip side of your positive qualities sometimes get out of control"; "on the flip side of partnerships he talked about their competition" period - the end or completion of something; "death put a period to his endeavors"; "a change soon put a period to my tranquility" summer - the period of finest development, happiness, or beauty; "the golden summer of his life" dawn - an opening time period; "it was the dawn of the Roman Empire" evening - a later concluding time period; "it was the evening of the Roman Empire" rainy day - a (future) time of financial need; "I am saving for a rainy day"