Meaning & use
antihero
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Meaning
nouncountable
The central figure of a story who lacks the courage, honesty or goodness of a traditional hero but still holds our interest.
Grammar: Countable: an antihero, many antiheroes; also written anti-hero.
Patterns
- the antihero of something
- play the antihero
The detective in the novel is a classic antihero: rude, lazy and strangely lovable.
Audiences enjoy the antihero because he fails in ways ordinary people do.
The film's antihero steals money but spends it helping his neighbors.
Word forms
| plural | antiheroes |
|---|
Common combinations
- reluctant antihero
- The reluctant antihero only helped because he was paid.
- flawed antihero
- A flawed antihero drives the plot of the series.
- classic antihero
- The gambler is a classic antihero.
- antihero of the story
- The antihero of the story is a bitter old soldier.
- play the antihero
- The actor loves to play the antihero.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rogue
- A rogue is a dishonest but charming person, while an antihero is a story's lead who may be morally mixed.
- protagonist
- Protagonist means any main character, good or bad, while antihero specifically lacks heroic qualities.
- villain
- A villain is an opponent in a story, while an antihero is the lead we follow.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: antihero or villain?
antihero vs villain
A villain is a bad character who opposes the hero, but an antihero is the main character who is flawed.
Practice
The main character cheats, lies and complains, yet readers root for him. He is best described as an ______.
Choose one answer.
An antihero is a central character lacking heroic qualities but still sympathetic. An antagonist is the opponent, so it fails because he is the main character.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “antihero”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.