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type·cast

(tīpkăst′)

tr.v. type·cast, type·cast·ing, type·casts

1. To cast (a performer) based on personality, background, or physical appearance: “His six-foot-one frame and dark good looks attracted the attention of filmmakers who typecast him as a heavy” (Linda Mizejewski).

2. To cast (a performer) in a role or roles similar to those that performer has played in the past: “After his success in Joan of Arc, [José Ferrer] knew that Hollywood would want to typecast him as neurotics and villains. (Dennis Brown).

3. To cause (a performer) to be cast repeatedly in similar roles: “Her musical talent and brassy projection had been successful on Broadway, but her hard features made her look less attractive on screen and typecast her as a nasty, greedy, raddled woman” (Jeffrey Meyers).

4. To perceive or represent in reductive or stereotyped ways: “Almost all of the animals we typically typecast as ‘predators' just as readily take the ailing and half-dead and the (preferably fresh) dead” (Bernd Heinrich). “By relegating Goethe to classicism as strongly as he does, Nietzsche is able to typecast him, to reduce him to a singular role even as he elevates him for the strength and discipline required to adhere to classical standards” (Adrian Del Caro).

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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