Second Word of the Day

trope |trōp|

noun

a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression : he used the two-Americas trope to explain how a nation free and democratic at home could act wantonly abroad.

• a conventional idea or phrase : her suspicion of ambiguity was more a trope than a fact.

verb [ intrans. ]

create a trope.

ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: via Latin from Greek tropos ‘turn, way, trope,’ from trepein ‘to turn.’