topos
noun
Form of topo , plural of topo.
Simple meaning
A traditional theme or motif or literary convention.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tuhpohzIPA pronunciation (US)
təpoʊz
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A traditional theme or motif or literary convention
“James Joyce uses the topos of the Wandering Jew in his Ulysses.”
Rugby Schoolslang
A toilet.
category theory
A category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space (or, more generally, on a site).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A traditional theme or motif or literary convention
Used this way, topos is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in literature or storytelling contexts.
“James Joyce uses the topos of the Wandering Jew in his Ulysses.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “topos of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: topos of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use topos
- “James Joyce uses the topos of the Wandering Jew in his Ulysses.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Traditional
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.