Showing results for "starring"

• present participle of star.

starring

American  

[stahr-ing] / ˈstɑr ɪŋ /

adjective

1. featured or celebrated as a star in a movie, on a sports team, etc..

   He was already the starring quarterback on his high school football team, which was on its way to a state championship.

2. (of a character or role) leading, central, or primary.

   The earliest performance I can remember is when I played the starring role in a drama called The Littlest Angel at church.

   As the town’s largest employer, the university also plays a starring role in the local economy.

3. featuring a specified performer.

   They didn't give a beginner a starring movie when I started acting 18 years ago.

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Etymology

Origin of starring

star ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

Explanation

Your attention-grabbing friend might be one who goes through life imagining it's a movie starring her. Starring means being the main character in a movie or play. Starring is an adjective that's used when someone's at the center of things, like a concert starring a famous cellist. The Greek word aster became the English word star, which was first used to mean "to be featured in a play" in the 1820s. If you imagine a star shining brightly in the dark night sky, it's easy to see how starring came to mean "being the most important on the stage."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

starring

The shelved Looney Tunes movie “Coyote vs. Acme,” also starring Will Forte, may see the light of day after all.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Parton re-recorded I Will Always Love You in 1982 for her starring role in the musical comedy film, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

After starring for the Cardinal, Fuld was drafted in the 10th round in 2004 and signed for just $25,000.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

The movie, starring Amelia Eve, Brandon Perea and Maisie Richardson-Sellers, follows the story of a young woman who can bring spirits into the mortal world but is herself haunted.

From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026

I cleared away the episodes of Riptide and Misfits of Science I’d programmed and dropped in a few back-to-back flicks starring Gamera, my favorite giant flying turtle.

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