stereotype
/ˈstɛ.ɹi.əˌtaɪp/US/ˈstɛɹ.i.əˌtaɪp/
stereotype noun: a conventional, formulaic, and often oversimplified or exaggerated conception, opinion, or image of (a person or a group of people).
Noun
stereotype (countable and uncountable, plural stereotypes)
- A conventional, formulaic, and often oversimplified or exaggerated conception, opinion, or image of (a person or a group of people).
- 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.1922, Walter Lippmann, chapter VI, in Public Opinion
- A person who is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type.
- A metal printing plate cast from a matrix moulded from a raised printing surface.
- Synonyms:
- cliché
- An extensibility mechanism of the Unified Modeling Language, allowing a new element to be derived from an existing one with added specializations.
Verb
stereotype (third-person singular simple present stereotypes, present participle stereotyping, simple past and past participle stereotyped)
- To make a stereotype of someone or something, or characterize someone by a stereotype.
- Unable to ascertain what is in the minds of so many individuals, he must try to simplify his problems by eliminating individual differences: he must try to control and stereotype interests and beliefs by education and propaganda.1957, Karl Popper, chapter 24, in The Poverty of Historicism, FIRST HARPER TORCH BOOK edition, page 90
- The heroines of these plays speak out against intraracial biases, stereotyping, lynchmobs, illiteracy, poverty, promiscuity, self-righteousness, verbally abusive men, rape, and miscegenation. […] Without warning the doctor, she chokes the life out of her child in order to keep him safe from white...1990, Elizabeth Brown-Guillory, “Preface”, in Wines in the Wilderness: Plays by African American Women from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present, New York, N.Y.: Praeger Publishers, →ISBN, page xiv
- To prepare for printing in stereotype; to produce stereotype plates of.
- to stereotype the Bible
- To print from a stereotype.
- To make firm or permanent; to fix.
- Powerful causes tending to stereotype and aggravate the poverty of old conditions.1887, George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, Scotland as it was and as it is
Adjective
stereotype
- Of an edition: printed in stereotype.
- At the present Epoch (1800), the art of Printing is become rather retrograde; or we should not hear so much of Stereotype editions. Surely the use and very principle of the invention of Printing, is to have the types moveable!1817 December, G. O. P. T., “A Chronological Table, Shewing that All the Remarkable Events Recorded in History Concur at the Distance of Five, or Ten, or Thirty Generations of Men”, in The...
- Yet the whole of this mighty preparation ended in the production of a small stereotype edition of the New Testament, without the usual distinction of verses, and nearly without notes.1820, J[ohn] M[ilner], “The Catholic Bible Society”, in Supplementary Memoirs of English Catholics, Addressed to Charles Butler, Esq. […], London: […] Keating and Brown, […] sold also by Murray, […]...
- Synonym of stereotyped.
- It is an ingenious expression which I owe to you, sir, that the manners of the East are as it were stereotype. Ahhough I do not conceive that they are quite so strongly marked, yet, to make my idea understood, I would say that they are like the last impressions taken from a copper-plate engraving...1824 (indicated as 1823 December 1), Peregrine Persic [pseudonym; James Justinian Morier], “Introductory Epistle, to the Rev. Dr. Fundgruben, […]”, in The Adventures of Hajji Baba, of Ispahan. […]...
- Cartels by the hundred: which he, since the Constitution must be made first, and his time is precious, answers now always with a kind of stereotype formula: ‘Monsieur, you are put upon my List; but I warn you that it is long, and I grant no preferences.’1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Sword in Hand”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume II (The Constitution), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book III (The Tuileries), page 116
- Synonyms:
- stereotyped
stereotype meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam
stereotype in Tamil
- திடர்வடிப்பு, ஒரே தன்மைத்தான, ஒரே மாதிரியான, ஒரேமாதிரியான, மாறா நிலையான
stereotype in Bengali
- স্টেরিওটাইপটি
stereotype in Telugu
- స్టీరియోటైప్, స్టీరియోటైపు
stereotype in Malayalam
- received idea, standard image, conventional image
- സ്ഥിരസങ്കല്പം, ധാരണ, സങ്കല്പം, സ്ഥിരരൂപം, രീതിബദ്ധത, പഴയതി ആവർത്തനം
- typecast, pigeonhole, conventionalize
- രീതിബദ്ധമാക്കുക, ഒരേതരത്തിലള്ള വേഷം തന്നെകെട്ടിക്കുക, സ്ഥിരം വേഷം നൽകുക, കള്ളിതിരിക്കുക, കീഴ്നടപ്പനുസരിച്ചാക്കുക, വകുപ്പുതിരിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- stereotype in Kannada
- ಪಡಿಯಚ್ಚು
- stereotype in Punjabi
- ਸਟੀਰੀਓਟਾਈਪ, ਸਟੇਰੀਓਟਾਈਪ, ਸਟੀਰੀਓਟਾਈਪ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- stereotype in Gujarati
- સ્ટીરિયોટાઇપ
- stereotype in Odia
- ଷ୍ଟେରିଓଟାଇପ୍, ସ୍ଟେରିଓଟାଇପ୍, ଷ୍ଟେରିଓଟାଇପ୍ |
- stereotype in Nepali
- स्टेरियोटाइप, स्टीरियोटाइप, स्टेरिओटाइप
- stereotype in Arabic
- صُورَة نَمَطِيَّة ṣūra namaṭiyya
- stereotype in Malay
- stereotaip
- stereotype in Indonesian
- stéréotipê
- stereotype in Persian
- تفکر قالبی tafakkor-e qâlebi
- stereotype in Thai
- แบบเหมารวม, ภาพเหมารวม, การเหมารวม, เหมารวม
Examples of stereotype in a sentence
- Anthropologists studying aid agencies have found that stereotypes and deindividualization are endemic among those in refugee work.2002, Ted C. Lewellen, The Anthropology of Globalization, page 178:
- Heartwarming: Trans girl breaks stereotypes by being the worst on the girls swim team2019 December 18, @WYKLOisREAL, Twitter, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2022:
- So, here are my top 10 tips on how you can avoid the “stupid American” stereotype and become a “Smart American” abroad.2024 July 1, Kim Davis, “How to avoid the ‘stupid American’ stereotype while traveling abroad”, in CNN:
- It is an ingenious expression which I owe to you, sir, that the manners of the East are as it were stereotype.1824 (indicated as 1823 December 1), Peregrine Persic [pseudonym; James Justinian Morier], “Introductory Epistle, to the Rev. Dr....
Synonyms of stereotype
Forms of stereotype
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | stereotypes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | stereotypes |
| present participle | stereotyping |
| past participle | stereotyped |
| past | stereotyped |
Origin of stereotype
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.
Words formed from stereotype
Phrases with stereotype
Questions about stereotype
- What does stereotype mean?
- Stereotype means a conventional, formulaic, and often oversimplified or exaggerated conception, opinion, or image of (a person or a group of people).
- What is stereotype in Tamil?
- Stereotype in Tamil is திடர்வடிப்பு, ஒரே தன்மைத்தான, ஒரே மாதிரியான. See Stereotype meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use stereotype in a sentence?
- Anthropologists studying aid agencies have found that stereotypes and deindividualization are endemic among those in refugee work.
- What part of speech is stereotype?
- Stereotype can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce stereotype?
- Stereotype is pronounced /ˈstɛ.ɹi.əˌtaɪp/ (UK).
- What is the plural of stereotype?
- The plural of stereotype is stereotypes.
Words near stereotype in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stereotype (page history and authors); stereotype (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stereotype (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stereotype (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stereotype (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); stereotype (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stereotype (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stereotype (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stereotype (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); stereotype (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-stereotype.wav.
Cite this entry: “stereotype.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stereotype. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.