culture hero

American  

noun

1. a mythical or mythicized historical figure who embodies the aspirations or ideals of a society.

2. a mythical figure considered by a people to have furnished it the means of existence or survival, as by inventing their alphabet, teaching them husbandry, or stealing fire from the gods for them.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

culture hero

“Seeing White Raven today confirms both his trickster and culture hero nature, bringing benefits to the human world — including laughter and humor.”

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

Historian William Leuchtenburg once characterized Presley as a "consumer culture hero," a manufactured commodity more image than substance.

From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2022

Then there was Miki Dora, king of Malibu and still the greatest culture hero in all of California surfing — our very own Elvis, the last word in coastal cool.

From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2019

Sitting in a wheelchair, neck askew and peering from behind thick glasses, he became an impish yet towering pop culture hero; invoking his name or mimicking his electronic voice, was shorthand for brilliance and resolve.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2018

Footnote 9.3: This refers to the myth, shared alike by the Toltecs and Mayas, of the culture hero, Quetzalcoatl-Kulkulcan, who was to return to the land from across the ocean.

From History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Hard University. Vol. VII. by Means, Philip Ainsworth