Q: I've been hearing a word more and more frequently, mostly during movie or book reviews on NPR — "trope." My dictionary defines "trope" as the figurative use of a word or expression, a figure of speech. But the meaning the speakers give it is almost akin to "genre" or "category" — a grouping of certain things that are alike. Can you shed any light on this? —Curt Guenther, Memphis

A: You might say this expansion of the meaning of "trope" is a tropism. That is, just as plants have a natural inclination to grow toward light, literary terms have an inherent tendency to stretch their definitions.

Indeed the traditional meaning of "trope" is "a figure of speech, especially a word or phrase used metaphorically."

But another related definition has developed over the past few years: "a common theme, motif or device, a cliche," as in "The film furnished all the horror-movie tropes," or "The play used comedic tropes such as second takes and delayed reactions." This is the usage you've been hearing on NPR.

Some dictionaries and usage guides have picked up on this new meaning. "Garner's Modern American Usage," for instance, quotes this 2008 passage from Newsweek: "(Peter) Sollett is able to take familiar teen tropes and transform them into low-key magic."

As you suggest, "trope" has become trendy. It joins "oxymoron" and "irony," terms, which originally had narrow literary definitions but have assumed more general meanings. Speakers and writers often use (and misuse) such highfalutin terms in order to sound more highbrow and sophisticated.

"Oxymoron," which technically means a combination of contradictory words ("sweet sorrow"), is now being used more generally to mean any impossibility, e.g., "An NPR broadcast without any pretentious words is an oxymoron."

Similarly, people sometimes use "irony," which technically means "an incongruity between what is expected or desired and what actually occurs," to refer to a situation that's simply coincidental or improbable.

Let's say Harry's house in Kansas is hit by a tornado. A few years later he moves to Connecticut to take a new job, and his house there is hit by a tornado. That's coincidence.

But if Harry moves from Kansas to Connecticut specifically to escape tornadoes and then his house in Connecticut is hit by a tornado, that's irony.

And if this keeps happening to Harry, that's a trope — and a shame.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to [email protected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254