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Trope vs Theme - What's the difference?

trope | theme |

In lang=en terms the difference between trope and theme

is that trope is a pair of complementary hexachords in twelve-tone technique while theme is the main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.

As nouns the difference between trope and theme

is that trope is something recurring across a genre or type of literature, such as the ‘mad scientist’ of horror movies or ‘once upon a time’ as an introduction to fairy tales. Similar to archetype and cliché but not necessarily pejorative while theme is a subject of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.

As verbs the difference between trope and theme

is that trope is to use, or embellish something with a trope while theme is to apply a theme to; to change the visual appearance and/or layout of (software).

trope

English

Noun

(wikipedia trope) (en noun)
  • (literature) Something recurring across a genre or type of literature, such as the ‘mad scientist’ of horror movies or ‘once upon a time’ as an introduction to fairy tales. Similar to archetype and but not necessarily pejorative.
  • A figure of speech in which words or phrases are used with a nonliteral or figurative meaning, such as a metaphor.
  • (music) A short cadence at the end of the melody in some early music.
  • (music) A phrase or verse added to the mass when sung by a choir.
  • (music) A pair of complementary hexachords in twelve-tone technique.
  • (Judaism) A cantillation pattern, or the mark that represents it.
  • Derived terms

    * troper * tropist * tropical * tropology

    Verb

    (trop)
  • To use, or embellish something with a trope.
  • (often, literature) To turn into, coin or create a new trope.
  • (often, literature) To analyze a work in terms of its literary tropes.
  • To think or write in terms of tropes.
  • Synonyms

    * tropify

    References

    *

    Anagrams

    * * * ----

    theme

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A subject of a talk or an artistic piece; a topic.
  • A recurring idea; a motif.
  • (music) The main melody of a piece of music, especially one that is the source of variations.
  • (film, television) A song, or a snippet of a song, that identifies a film, a TV program, a character, etc. by playing at the appropriate time.
  • (computing, figuratively) The collection of color schemes, sounds, artwork etc., that "skin" an environment towards a particular motif.
  • (grammar) The stem of a word
  • (linguistics) thematic relation of a noun phrase to a verb
  • (linguistics) Theta role in generative grammar and government and binding theory.
  • (linguistics) Topic, what is generally being talked about, as opposed to rheme
  • A regional unit of organisation in the Byzantine empire.
  • Verb

    (them)
  • (computing) To apply a theme to; to change the visual appearance and/or layout of (software).