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trouper

5 6.6

A person who keeps working and does what is needed without complaining, even in hard times

noun
/ˈtruːpər/

: trabajador

After working long hours in tough conditions, she proved to be a trouper by always keeping a positive attitude.
a real trouper
a little trouper

Examples

Listen, Vera, I think you're a swell little trouper.

Annie Oakley (1935)
We couldn't run Rowling for President, of course, as she was a foreigner, but she campaigned like a trouper for us.

Fiction book (2000)
Thank you to whoever for being such a good little trouper.

Fiction book (1991)
You've been a real trouper right to the end.

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991)
Yeah, he's been such a trouper, I feel like I owe him a good time.

C'mon C'mon (2021)
Aurora turned out to be a real trouper.

Barcelona (1994)
Hank, you're just a born trouper.

The Broadway Melody (1929)
What a trouper!

Replicas (2018)
You're a trouper.

Jailhouse Rock (1957)
You're a real trouper.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Antonyms

quitter

Offensive

42 3.2

A person who gives up easily and does not finish things

slacker

Offensive

33 4.6

A person who avoids work and often does very little

How Dependable

stalwart

8 7.1

trouper

5 6.6

hard worker

33 1.3

worker

600 1.0

slacker

Offensive

33 4.6

Surface Forms

trouper singular

troupers plural

Morphology

trouper = troupe (opaque) = troupe + er

The form is built from 'troupe' + '-er', but the modern sense of a dependable person who does not complain is a figurative extension that is not directly predictable from the base.

Etymology

Trouper comes from the French troupe ('group of actors') and first meant a member of a travelling show who kept performing no matter what. So a trouper now means a dependable person who keeps going and does their work without complaining.