troupe
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
See troop.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of troupe
1815–25, < French: troop
Explanation
You can call a group of performers a troupe. The kids you dance with are your dance troupe, and the jugglers and clowns at your friend's party might be a circus troupe. If you love performing improvisational comedy, you may want to join a local improv troupe, and if you like the idea of caroling at Christmas time, you can form a troupe of singers to sing carols with in December. Troupe is a French word meaning "company of performers," which earlier meant "company of soldiers." It shares a root with troop.
Vocabulary lists containing troupe
Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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Theater - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The company is the latest L.A. dance troupe to shutter in recent years, joining L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Chip falls in with a troupe of street performers, evades the police, juggles along the Seine and eventually wanders into a smoky bar, where Penelope is strumming her guitar.
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
An hour before the climb, I arrive at the Zimmerman Bandstand, where a troupe wearing Navy whites plays jaunty tunes.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
The choreographer’s troupe marked its centenary this spring at City Center, and an exhibition at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and a photographic book offer further insight into her innovative artistry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
There were usually at least eight wagons in our troupe and well over two dozen performers: actors and acrobats, musicians and hand magicians, jugglers and jesters.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Vaudeville troupes traveled the country by rail, performing at sites from small-town opera houses to urban theaters seating several thousand people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026
Until Friday, Amdjarass hosts dance troupes, musicians, traditional storytellers, craftspeople, cooks and nomadic camel drivers from across the vast region.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
The chemistry between its cast members is a major part of the company’s success, many previously worked together in improv troupes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2025
Behind him, the production took care of everything else: the energetic dance troupes, sophisticated light and sound backdrops and a full-fledged backing orchestra.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2025
And then he told me that unfortunately he doesn't know any dance squads, dance groups, dance teams, dance troupes, or dance clubs.
From "Sunny" by Jason Reynolds
So she did what came naturally to her: She trouped.
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2016
We trouped down the stairs into a long, narrow, cavelike space burrowing into the hill, taken up almost entirely by a gleaming wood bar.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2015
Outfitted in caps and gowns, the singer Nellie McKay and her musicians trouped onto the stage of Feinstein’s at Loews Regency on Tuesday evening with mischievous smirks on their faces.
From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2012
And as for fame, certain it is that she trouped with Jumbo, worked for and outlived Showman Barnum, the Ringlings, and generations of circusgoers.
From Time Magazine Archive
So the ladies all trouped off to rest.
From His Hour by Glyn, Elinor
Not long now: The teams are out on the pitch, Sheffield United trouping out first, closely followed by Liverpool.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 24, 2020
That appeal has sent “Hamilton” trouping across the United States.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2017
The illness, which sent Olivier to a London hospital last year, will not keep him from trouping before the cameras.
From Time Magazine Archive
Elizabeth Arden horses hit the road all year, trouping from track to track.
From Time Magazine Archive
And ten-twent-thirt trouping, and county-fair spieling, and selling Dr. Thunder Rapids' Choctaw Herbal Sensitizer.
From Free Air by Lewis, Sinclair
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
