set piece

noun

plural set pieces

1

a

: a composition (as in literature, art, or music) executed in a fixed or ideal form often with studied artistry and brilliant effect

b

: a scene, depiction, speech, or event that is obviously designed to have an imposing effect

2

: a realistic piece of stage scenery standing by itself

3

: a precisely planned and conducted military operation

an offensive set piece that caught the enemy off guard

4

sports : a carefully planned sequence of movements performed by the members of a team (as in soccer)

A set piece can be used on either a direct or indirect type of [free] kick, providing one of the few times during the game that a team can execute something that it may have spent hours practicing.

—Doug Roberson

set-piece

ˈset-ˌpēs 

adjective

Examples of set piece in a Sentence

a movie with some lovely set pieces

She scored with a set piece.

Recent Examples on the Web

Bottle episodes are designed to save money for more ambitious episodes elsewhere in a season through some combination of only using preexisting sets, hiring few (if any) guest actors, and not doing time-consuming set pieces. —Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 2 Sep. 2025

The action set pieces are nerve-wracking, but that screenplay snafu is too significant. —Randy Myers, Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2025

A lot of the action set pieces involving dismemberment, disembowelment, and general maiming were also practical, albeit with some light digital touch-ups in post-production. —Josh Weiss, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025

The film features a kick-ass soundtrack (Bill Withers, Fleetwood Mac, Donna Summer and more), balletic cinematography and has a great pace to it and some wild action set pieces. —Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 29 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1834, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for set piece

• apiece
• aris
• assise
• caprice
• cerise
• decease
• decrease
• eyepiece
• facepiece
• handpiece
• headpiece
• increase