WORD OF THE DAY
A trope is a word used in a nonliteral sense to create a powerful image. If you say, "Chicago's worker bees buzz around the streets," you're using a trope. Workers aren't literally bees, but it suggests how fast they move.
Trope refers to different types of figures of speech, such as puns, metaphors, and similes. Each has its own particular structure, but in each case the actual meaning is different from the literal, dictionary sense. Trope is also used in a more general sense to describe a convention that you can easily recognize and understand because you've seen it so often. For example, a TV cop show might use the trope of police vs. thieves to talk about larger issues.
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Vocabulary lists containing trope
From alliteration to zeugma, this list covers the literary devices you need to know in order to understand and analyze poetry. To learn even more about poetry, explore our lists on Genre and Structure and Meter.
You'll be able to express yourself with style once you learn these rhetorical devices and tropes. This vocabulary list covers a wide range of techniques used in formal speech and writing, from alliteration to zeugma.
If you want to understand the tools and techniques that great writers use, learn these literary devices and figures of speech.
If you want to understand the tools and techniques that great writers use, learn these literary devices and figures of speech. Review this vocabulary list and you'll be a master of metaphor, an expert on euphemism, and a pro at puns.
Have you got the write stuff? Find out by learning this comprehensive list of words related to writing. Here are links to our lists for the collection: Grammar, Reference, Drafting, Text Structure, Purpose, Argumentative Writing, Theme, Genre, Poetry, Plot Development, Literary Devices
