set piece
Americannoun
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Theater. a piece of scenery used as part of a stage set, as a profile or three-dimensional construction built to stand independently on the stage floor.
A few set pieces simulating rocks and a fence constituted the scenery for the first act.
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a work of art, literature, music, etc., having a prescribed thematic and formal structure.
the set pieces of Restoration comedy.
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a scene, action, or the like, having a conventional form and functioning as part of the structure of a work of art, literature, etc.
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a military operation carried out according to a rigid plan.
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Also called set play. Sports. a coordinated maneuver with team players in a preplanned formation when the ball re-enters active play, as a corner kick in soccer.
The team’s dedicated practice time for set pieces paid off in their penalty kick results this year.
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(in a novel, narrative poem, or the like) a passage more or less extraneous to the sequence of events, introduced to supply background, color, or the like.
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an arrangement of slow-burning fireworks forming a design or composition when lighted.
noun
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a work of literature, music, etc, often having a conventional or prescribed theme, intended to create an impressive effect
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a piece of scenery built to stand independently as part of a stage set
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a display of fireworks
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sport a rehearsed team manoeuvre, usually attempted in continuous games at a restart of play, esp when the other side has been penalized for improper play
Etymology
Origin of set piece
First recorded in 1840–50
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.
The annual set piece before a joint session of Congress in early March of that year offered him an opportunity—a requirement, really—to show that he was capable of doing the job for another four years.
From Slate • Feb. 24, 2026
Remarkably, eight of the last nine goals Crystal Palace have conceded in all competitions have come from set piece situations - including each of the last seven.
From BBC • Dec. 28, 2025
The “Hamlet” production is a fantastic set piece, with man-made sets and Shakespeare’s theatre-in-the-round filmed as accurately and affectionately as the nature that consumes so much of the film’s first two acts.
From Salon • Nov. 30, 2025
It contains much subtle humor, but the concluding set piece, with longhorns roaming the streets of Los Angeles and comedically terrifying its denizens, remains the movie’s high point.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 17, 2025
Bucci turns a bolt on one of the casters—the wheels on which the main set piece turns—and it snaps.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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.
