Word.ws English Dictionary

out of central casting

out of central casting prepositional phrase: conforming to the stereotypical image of a particular type of person or group.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Conforming to the stereotypical image of a particular type of person or group.
    • "Do I or do I not have the quintessential in-laws? I swear they're right out of central casting. A blowhard brother-in-law, bratty kids, and a sourpuss mother-in-law wide as a billboard. […]2006, Richard Matturro, Luna, Livingtson Press, →ISBN, page 92
    • Frank Grandin was straight out of central casting, the pompous, self-important, narrow-minded, big businessman, from his full head of suspiciously jet-black hair right down to the oversized gold watch on his wrist.2008, Holly Chamberlain, Tuscan Holiday, Kensington Books, →ISBN

Synonyms of out of central casting

Origin of out of central casting

From Central Casting, an American company that specializes in casting extras, body doubles, and stand-ins.

Questions about out of central casting

What does out of central casting mean?
Out of central casting means conforming to the stereotypical image of a particular type of person or group.
What part of speech is out of central casting?
Out of central casting is a prepositional phrase.

Words near out of central casting in the dictionary

  1. out of book
  2. out of both sides of one's mouth
  3. out of bounds
  4. out of breath
  5. out of business
  6. out of central casting
  7. out of character
  8. out of collar
  9. out of commission
  10. out of conceit with
  11. out of condition

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: out of central casting (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-out of central casting.ogg.

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