tropology

[ troh-pol-uh-jee ]

noun

, plural tro·pol·o·gies

1. the use of figurative language in speech or writing.
2. a treatise on figures of speech or tropes.
3. the use of a Scriptural text so as to give it a moral interpretation or significance apart from its direct meaning.

tropology

/ trɒˈpɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. rhetoric the use of figurative language in speech or writing
2. Christian theol the educing of moral or figurative meanings from the Scriptures
3. a treatise on tropes or figures of speech

Derived Forms

• ˌtropoˈlogic, adjective

Other Words From

• trop·o·log·ic [trop-, uh, -, loj, -ik, troh-p, uh, -], tropo·logi·cal adjective
• tropo·logi·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of tropology¹

1510–20; < Late Latin tropologia < Greek tropología. See trope, -o-, -logy

Word History and Origins

Origin of tropology¹

C16: via Late Latin from Greek tropalogia ; see trope , -logy

Example Sentences

He speaks of them as searching carefully into the writers of history, as having a knowledge of ancient law and chronography, and in writing, of the rules of grammar and orthography, punctuation, metre, together with the use of allegory and tropology; all of which goes to prove that the field of secular knowledge was not particularly limited for nuns in those days.

From Project Gutenberg