stereotype: Meaning and Definition of

ster•e•o•type

1. a process, now often replaced by more advanced methods, for making metal printing plates by taking a mold of composed type or the like in papier-mâché or other material and then taking from this mold a cast in type metal.
2. a plate made by this process.
3. a set form; convention.
4. a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group: The cowboy and Indian are American stereotypes.

1. to make a stereotype of.
2. to characterize or regard as a stereotype: The actor has been stereotyped as a villain.
3. to give a fixed form to.