<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>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.</li><li>An instance of this.</li><li>Compare figure of speech.</li><li>A phrase, sentence, or verse formerly interpolated in a liturgical text to amplify or embellish.</li><li>A recurring theme or motif, as in literature or art: the heroic trope.</li><li>The trope of motherhood; the heroic trope.</li><li>A convention or device that establishes a predictable or stereotypical representation of a character, setting, or scenario in a creative work: The author relies on our knowledge of the Haunted House trope to set the scene.</li><li>From her introduction in the movie, the character is nothing but a Damsel in Distress trope.</li><li>(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.</li></ul>