stereotype
/ˈstɛɹ.i.əˌtaɪp/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.43 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A conventional, formulaic, and often oversimplified or exaggerated conception, opinion, or image of (a person or a group of people).
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A person who is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A metal printing plate cast from a matrix moulded from a raised printing surface.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An extensibility mechanism of the Unified Modeling Language, allowing a new element to be derived from an existing one with added specializations.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
To make a stereotype of someone or something, or characterize someone by a stereotype.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Not all Zumbetonians wear plimsolls. That's just a stereotype."
- "Instead we notice a trait which marks a well known type, and fill in the rest of the picture by means of the stereotypes we carry about in our heads."
- "Anthropologists studying aid agencies have found that stereotypes and deindividualization are endemic among those in refugee work. It may be inevitable that large assistance organizations tend to objectify, simplify, and universalize the people under their care."
- "So, although to some observers machine music implies a harsh metronomicity – and some sectors of electronic dance music might be the stereotype here – computers can also be the means of investigating human expression."
- "“Psychotherapists are not immune to the same stereotypes that we all have, and I think they could become even more relevant for psychotherapists than for other professions [both medical and nonmedical], because they are embarking on this intimate, potentially long-term relationship with these [clients],” said Heather Kugelmass, a doctoral student in sociology at Princeton University. Kugelmass is the author of the study (PDF), which was published Wednesday in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior."
- "Heartwarming: Trans girl breaks stereotypes by being the worst on the girls swim team"
Etymology
Borrowed from French stéréotype (adjective), equivalent to stereo- + type. Printing sense is from 1817; the “conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image” sense is recorded from 1922 in Walter Lippmann’s book Public Opinion.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈstɛɹ.i.əˌtaɪp/
- British English: /ˈstɛ.ɹi.əˌtaɪp/