# stereotype

Pronunciation: US say "STER-ee-uh-typ" /ˈstɛɹ.i.əˌtaɪp/; UK say "STE-ree-uh-typ" /ˈstɛ.ɹi.əˌtaɪp/

## Noun

1. A conventional, oversimplified, and often exaggerated idea or image of a person or group.
   - Simple: A fixed, too-simple idea about what all the people in a group are like.
   - _The film leans on a tired stereotype of the suburban housewife._
   - _Advertisers sometimes reinforce stereotypes rather than challenging them._
3. Someone regarded as a living example of a fixed image or type, fitting it almost perfectly.
   - Simple: A person who acts exactly like the common idea of their type.
   - _His coworker was a walking stereotype of the overworked lawyer._
   - _Critics dismissed the character as a mere stereotype with no inner depth._
4. A solid metal printing plate cast from a mold taken from a raised printing surface such as set type.
   - Simple: A metal plate used for printing, made by copying the raised shape of set type.
   - _The publisher stored each stereotype for later reprints of its popular titles._
   - _A worn stereotype produced faint, uneven impressions on the page._
9. In the Unified Modeling Language, a mechanism that extends an existing element to create a new one with added, specialized meaning.
   - Simple: A way in software design diagrams to give an element a special, more specific role.
   - _She applied a stereotype to the component so it would render as an interface._
   - _Custom stereotypes let teams adapt the notation to their own domain._

## Verb

2. To characterize a person or group according to a fixed, oversimplified image.
   - Simple: To judge someone unfairly by treating them as just like everyone else in their group.
   - _Casting directors still stereotype older actors into a narrow range of roles._
   - _The novel stereotypes its rural characters as simple and backward._
5. To prepare a page for printing by casting it into durable stereotype plates.
   - Simple: To make metal printing plates of a page so it can be printed many times.
   - _The publisher chose to stereotype the textbook before its second printing._
   - _They stereotyped the entire Bible to meet steady demand._
6. To produce printed copies from a stereotype plate rather than from standing type.
   - Simple: To print a page using a metal plate instead of the original set type.
   - _Large publishers could stereotype an entire run far faster than they could set it by hand._
   - _The firm stereotyped its almanacs year after year from the same plates._
8. To make something firm or permanent; to fix it in an unchanging form.
   - Simple: To fix something firmly in place so that it cannot change.
   - _Decades of ritual had stereotyped the ceremony down to its smallest gesture._
   - _Constant repetition can stereotype an opinion until it hardens into dogma._

## Adjective

7. Of a book or edition: produced from stereotype plates rather than from individually set type.
   - Simple: Describing a book or edition that was printed using metal stereotype plates.
   - _The publisher issued a cheaper stereotype edition for schools._
   - _This printing was a stereotype edition, durable enough to reprint for decades._

## Adjective

10. Fixed and conventional in form; repeated without variation or originality. *(rare)*
   - Simple: Done in the same fixed way every time, without any change or new ideas.
   - _The report followed a stereotype format that hadn't changed in years._
   - _Critics found the prose flat and stereotype throughout._

## Origin

The word was borrowed from French stéréotype, formed from 'stereo-' plus 'type'. Its printing sense dates from 1817, while the sense of a conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception is recorded from 1922 in Walter Lippmann's book Public Opinion.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/stereotype (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).