stock character
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.
Iago, one of Shakespeare’s greatest villains, is an updated version of this stock character.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2026
One day, the director of the Perry Street Theater, knowing of his training in commedia dell’arte, asked him to make a mask for the stock character Arlecchino, also called Harlequin.
From New York Times • Jul. 8, 2021
Besson’s filmography mirrors the descent of this stock character so precisely, it could well all be his fault.
From The Guardian • Aug. 19, 2019
Horvath never becomes much more than a stock character, an unfulfilled mid-century suburban husband.
From Washington Post • May 1, 2019
And what is most comic of all is to become a category oneself into which others will fall, as into a ready-made frame; it is to crystallise into a stock character.
From Laughter : an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Brereton, Cloudesley Shovell Henry