trope

UK: /trəʊp/ US: (trōp)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

trope (trōp),  n. 

1. Rhetoric
   • any literary or rhetorical device, as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony, that consists in the use of words in other than their literal sense.
   • an instance of this. Cf. figure of speech. 
2. Religion a phrase, sentence, or verse formerly interpolated in a liturgical text to amplify or embellish.
3. Philosophy (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.

• Greek trópos turn, turning, turn or figure of speech, akin to trépein to turn
• Latin tropus figure in rhetoric
• 1525–35

-trope, 

1. 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.

• Greek -tropos; see trope, tropo-

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

trope / trəʊp/ noun

1. a word or expression used in a figurative sense
2. a recurring theme or idea

Etymology: 16th Century: from Latin tropus figurative use of a word, from Greek tropos style, turn; related to trepein to turn

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

-trope combining_form:in_noun:countable

1. indicating a turning towards, development in the direction of, or affinity to: heliotrope

Etymology: from Greek tropos a turn