stereotype
stereotype Lexical Profile
stereotype Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A widely held, fixed, and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person, group, or thing.
"The novel challenges the common stereotype that all scientists are socially awkward."
A relief printing plate cast in a mold made from composed type or an original plate (in traditional printing).
"Before modern offset printing, newspapers relied heavily on metal stereotypes to duplicate pages quickly."
• verb
To view, characterize, or represent someone or something according to a fixed, oversimplified, and often biased generalization.
"Media portrayals often stereotype teenagers as rebellious and glued to their phones."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from French 'stéréotype', coined in 1798 by the printer Firmin Didot from Ancient Greek 'stereos' (solid, firm) and 'typos' (impression, cast). Originally referring to a solid metal printing plate cast from a mold, the term acquired its figurative sense of a fixed, unchanging mental image in the early 20th century, popularized by journalist Walter Lippmann in 1922.