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Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday January 9, 2008
tópico, noun:
cliché
Tópico looks as though it ought to mean topic, but it’s a ‘false friend’. Though it can occasionally mean topic, it’s mainly used to describe a hackneyed idea or phrase, or a cliché.
el viejo tópico de la botella medio llena o medio vacía
the old cliché of the half-full or half-empty bottle
Se apunta al tópico de que todos los políticos son iguales.
He subscribes to the hackneyed idea that all politicians are the same.
Tópico can also be an adjective.
La película es demasiado tópica, demasiado clásica, para ser creíble.
The film’s too clichéd, too classical, to be believable.
It also has a specialized meaning which you may well see if you buy medicines in Spanish-speaking countries:
de uso tópico
for external use
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