antihero
Americannoun
plural
antiheroesnoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of antihero
Explanation
An antihero is the main character of a story, but one who doesn't act like a typical hero. Antiheroes are often a little villainous. Traditionally, the protagonist — main character and focus — of a story has been a hero: someone good, noble, and brave. However, some stories change things up by having an antihero instead. An antihero may not be heroic at all. TV shows have featured antiheroes who are mobsters, drug dealers, crooked cops, and even serial killers. An antihero is kind of like a villain, or a mix of a hero and a villain. Antiheroes are complex characters, which is why they’re popular.
Vocabulary lists containing antihero
Power Prefix: Anti
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: ant-, anti-
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Prefixes: anti-
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Composer Bernard Herrmann’s score, his last, is alternately mellow and roiling, befitting its placid but simmering antihero.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026
The book is powered, however, by its vividly drawn antihero.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026
Just how my favorite new antihero will deal with her disdain for the Others is yet to be seen.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 24, 2025
Anthony Geary, who played the charming antihero Luke Spencer on ABC’s “General Hospital,” will make his last appearance on the soap opera on Monday.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025
Gilligan also created “Pluribus” as a counterweight to the antihero era he helped define by contributing two unforgettable linchpins, Walter White and Saul Goodman.
From Salon • Nov. 26, 2025
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
