typecast
Americanverb (used with object)
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typecasts,
present (3rd person singular)
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typecast,
past participle, past
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typecasting
present participle
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to cast (a performer) in a role that requires characteristics of physique, manner, personality, etc., similar to those possessed by the performer.
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to cast (a performer) repeatedly in a kind of role closely patterned after that of the actor's previous successes.
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to stereotype.
He realizes now he's been typecast as an executive errand boy.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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typecastsimple
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typecastssimple
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have typecastperfect
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has typecastperfect
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am typecastingprogressive
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are typecastingprogressive
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is typecastingprogressive
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have been typecastingperfect progressive
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has been typecastingperfect progressive
Past
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typecastsimple
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had typecastperfect
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was typecastingprogressive
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were typecastingprogressive
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had been typecastingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of typecast
Explanation
To typecast someone is to repeatedly identify or represent them as a stereotype. Directors and casting agents routinely typecast actors, choosing them for extremely similar roles over and over again. Think of an actor who always plays a superhero and is never chosen to play a romantic lead or the main character in a historical drama. That actor is being typecast. Sometimes performers intentionally seek out unusual or challenging roles in order to avoid this kind of stereotyping: if the child star of several peppy sitcoms suddenly plays the villain in a gory horror movie, you can bet that she doesn't want to be typecast.
Vocabulary lists containing typecast
Theater - Middle School
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Posted
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Theater - High School
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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:
If it sued them, it might be typecast as an American agriculture giant stomping on Chinese farmers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The accolade led to her being typecast and overlooked for a lot of roles, including in theatre, she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
She got small parts in “Mad Men” and “Rent,” but has said she “was typecast as a trophy wife and kind of put into this box.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
O’Hara, who died Jan. 30 at the age of 71, wasn’t expressly typecast in maternal roles over the span of her five-decade career.
From Salon ● Feb. 4, 2026
Dead tired, I imagined, of the arguments, of the disapproval, and of being typecast.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
The Duchess of Sussex will speak with historians and experts to "uncover the origin of these stereotypes and have uncensored conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape narratives."
From Fox News ● Mar. 24, 2022
Along with pay issues, many filmmakers are looking for stories that move beyond female typecasts.
From Reuters ● Jan. 27, 2018
“The question is whether Jack Dorsey on the product side is willing to break some typecasts at the company and come in with a fresh perspective.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 19, 2015
Yet his gift for comedy means he can't help wisecracking in these meetings, and I suspect it further typecasts him as the much-loved Jack Donaghy character from 30 Rock.
From The Guardian ● May 19, 2013
He neither patronizes his Italian civilians, typecasts his G.I.s nor falsifies his combat scenes, which prove as taut as any fiction footage yet shot about World War II.
From Time Magazine Archive
Despite this typecasting, she would later go on to make her mark, first in theatre and then in various TV shows and films by the 1990s.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2025
For decades, he tried to wriggle out of that typecasting to play kooks and himbos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2025
I haven’t named most of “The Traitors” third-season challengers because there are more than 20 of them, but the game’s psychology relies on typecasting on the part of players and viewers.
From Salon ● Jan. 9, 2025
From some of his early TV work — including the “Land of Gorch” sketches on “Saturday Night Live “— he attempted to shake the typecasting.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2023
The typecasting as wallflowers and frumps confused her.
From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2023
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.
