Trivia Time

What ancient Greek dramatist introduced a "first actor" in a play, later called the protagonist?

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protagonist

American  

[proh-tag-uh-nist] / proʊˈtæg ə nɪst /

noun

• protagonists
  plural

1. the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work.

2. a proponent for or advocate of a political cause, social program, etc.

3. the leader or principal person in a movement, cause, etc.

4. the first actor in ancient Greek drama, who played not only the main role, but also other roles when the main character was offstage.

5. Physiology. agonist.

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protagonist British  

/ prəʊˈtæɡənɪst /

noun

1. the principal character in a play, story, etc

2. a supporter, esp when important or respected, of a cause, political party, etc

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protagonist Cultural  

1. The principal character in a literary work. Hamlet, for example, is the protagonist of the play by William Shakespeare that bears his name.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• protagonism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• protagonists
  plural

Etymology

Origin of protagonist

First recorded in 1665–75; from Greek prōtagōnistḗs “actor who plays the first part,” literally, “first combatant,” equivalent to prôt(os) “first” + agōnistḗs “one who contends for a prize, combatant, actor”; see origin at proto-, antagonist

Explanation

A protagonist is the central character in a story: the protagonist of Huckleberry Finn is — guess who? — Huckleberry Finn. A novel, movie, or play might have many main characters, but it can really only have one protagonist — or maybe two in the case of, say, Romeo and Juliet. That's because protos means "first" in Greek, and agonistes means "competitor" or "actor." It can also mean a leading figure in a real-life situation: "Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were the protagonists of the U.S. Civil War." Don't use it to mean "a supporter of an idea or cause"; the word you're looking for in that situation is proponent.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

protagonist protagonists

One key objection was the mature tone of the narrative, in which the child protagonist is directly confronted and endangered by the evils derived from fascist ideologies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

Port Talbot-born Creevy appeared in Netflix series Black Doves and The Guest as well as award-winning drama In My Skin, for which she won Bafta Cymru best actress for her portrayal of teenage protagonist Bethany.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

And then there’s the most famous Irish person of Jewish heritage, who despite being a fictional character can be said to have changed the world: Leopold Bloom, the ambiguous protagonist of James Joyce’s “Ulysses.”

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

The "Weapons" and "Barbarian" filmmaker did so by leaning into the visual language of video games, shooting the film from the perspective of the protagonist, played by Austin Abrams.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

On the TV, Halliday guides his square protagonist into the game’s secret room, where the words created by warren robinett appear in the center of the screen.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Siskel and Ebert wannabes Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick of the Lakers liken themselves to iconic film protagonists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

The show redirects focus to Cathy Ames, the wife of one of the novel’s protagonists and one of the most beguiling characters in American literature.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026

There’s an understandable pacing dip afterward, when the wounded villagers think the nightmare is over and our protagonists learn separately that the forest holds more of these mysteriously strong creatures.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

The extended look spent a long time showcasing the relationship between protagonists Jason Duval and Lucia Camino, the couple at the centre of GTA 6's "Bonnie and Clyde" story.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

Not even the chronology is described in conventional language: the century is an aging person, a contemporary of the story’s protagonists.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Related Words

• central character
• central figure
• hero
• heroine
• lead character
• leading character
• leading figure
• main character
• main figure
• principal
• principal character
• principal figure