stereotype

Definition

A conventional, formulaic, and often oversimplified or exaggerated conception, opinion, or image of (a person or a group of people).

Etymology

Borrowed from French stéréotype (adjective), equivalent to stereo- + type. Printing sense is from 1817; the “conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image” sense is recorded from 1922 in Walter Lippmann’s book Public Opinion.

Example Sentences

• "Not all Zumbetonians wear plimsolls. That's just a stereotype."
• "Instead we notice a trait which marks a well known type, and fill in the rest of the picture by means of the stereotypes we carry about in our heads."
• "Anthropologists studying aid agencies have found that stereotypes and deindividualization are endemic among those in refugee work. It may be inevitable that large assistance organizations tend to objectify, simplify, and universalize the people under their care."