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

Author Selina Brown, whose book My Rice Is Best was selected for distribution through Imagination Library, noted how the plotline features a black protagonist.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

His Derek Strange detective novels, including the just-published “The Blue Flame,” also features a highly principled protagonist driven by values Chandler would recognize.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Instead of shedding tears or vowing revenge, we hear the protagonist in the song begging the mistress who holds the power to relinquish it.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

FX’s new murder-mystery show “The Shards” opens with the protagonist, Bret Easton Ellis, narrating an outfit he wore to the movies: a brown Ralph Lauren shirt with white accents, Calvin Klein bluejeans and Gucci loafers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

It’s a beautiful dream, like the end of an American movie, where the protagonist and his girl drive off into the rest of the world.

From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak

Since they frequently fail, millennial protagonists suffer from a modern sort of arrested development.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

Simply by making affluent black Africans the protagonists, she says she has opened many people's eyes.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Taking a novelist’s care with his protagonists, Mr. Aris shows how they developed starkly different personalities from childhood wounds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Meow Wolf L.A., in fact, will be the firm’s most character-driven exhibition, as guests will follow the storylines of three main protagonists throughout the space.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

I think my students will be able to identify with the teen protagonists in all of the books I’ve selected.

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers

Related Words

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