set piece

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

set′ piece′, 

1. Show Business an arrangement of slow-burning fireworks forming a design or composition when lighted.
2. Show Business [Theat.] a piece of scenery used as part of a stage set, as a profile or three-dimensional construction built to stand independently on the stage floor:
   A few set pieces simulating rocks and a fence constituted the scenery for the first act.
3. Fine Art, Literature a work of art, literature, music, etc., having a prescribed thematic and formal structure:
   the set pieces of Restoration comedy.
4. Fine Art, Literature a scene, action, or the like, having a conventional form and functioning as part of the structure of a work of art, literature, etc.
5. Military a military operation carried out according to a rigid plan.
6. Literature (in a novel, narrative poem, or the like) a passage more or less extraneous to the sequence of events, introduced to supply background, color, or the like.
• 1840–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

set piece noun

1. a work of literature, music, etc, often having a conventional or prescribed theme, intended to create an impressive effect
2. a display of fireworks
3. a rehearsed team manoeuvre, usually attempted in continuous games at a restart of play, esp when the other side has been penalized for improper play