Trope

Trope is a term for a figure of speech.^[1] The term has evolved to identify an overused theme or device.^[2] A trope may mean a convention, a plot trick, a setup, a narrative structure and a character type all at the same time.^[3]

1. ↑ "Figures of Speech: Tropes" at Rhetoric.byu.edu; retrieved 2012-1-14.
2. ↑ "Trope" at Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary; retrieved 2012-1-24.
3. ↑ Tomlinson, Barbara. (2010). Feminism and Affect at the Scene of Argument: Beyond the Trope of the Angry Feminist, p. 1.