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• hero
  hero

  noun

  a person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character.
• Hero
  Hero

  noun

  a priestess of Aphrodite who drowned herself after her lover Leander drowned while swimming the Hellespont to visit her.

Trivia Time

Hero is derived from the ancient Greek word hērōs. What does hērōs mean?

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hero

¹ American  

[heer-oh] / ˈhɪər oʊ /

noun

• heroes,
  plural
• heros
  plural

1. a person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character.

   He became a local hero when he saved the drowning child.

2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has special achievements, abilities, or personal qualities and is regarded as a role model or ideal.

   My older sister is my hero.

   Entrepreneurs are our modern heroes.

3. an animal acknowledged for its courageous acts, devotion to duty, etc..

   This police dog hero was shot during the apprehension of a suspect.

4. the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.

   Synonyms:

   star, lead

   Antonyms:

   heavy, villain

5. Classical Mythology.

   1. a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.

   2. (in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability.

   3. (in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.

6. hero sandwich.

7. the bread or roll used in making a hero sandwich.

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adjective

1. being or relating to a person or animal noted for special achievements, abilities, or personal qualities, especially bravery or devotion to duty; heroic.

   A hero cat helped a firefighter spot a small child in a burning building.

2. (in advertising and marketing) especially notable, important, or central.

   Producing new hero content twice a year can help your brand grow.

   Your hero product should be obvious on your website.

verb (used with object)

1. to praise or treat as special; laud.

   We hero the moms who were writing parenting guides and giving advice to new mothers.

   Over the years, the judging panel has rightly heroed brands championing equal rights.

2. to bring to attention; highlight.

   These dishes beautifully hero the fresh organic ginger.

Hero ² American  

[heer-oh] / ˈhɪər oʊ /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a priestess of Aphrodite who drowned herself after her lover Leander drowned while swimming the Hellespont to visit her.

2. Also Heron Hero of Alexandria, flourished 1st century a.d., Greek scientist.

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hero ¹ British  

/ ˈhɪərəʊ /

noun

1. a man distinguished by exceptional courage, nobility, fortitude, etc

2. a man who is idealized for possessing superior qualities in any field

3. classical myth a being of extraordinary strength and courage, often the offspring of a mortal and a god, who is celebrated for his exploits

4. the principal male character in a novel, play, etc

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Hero ² British  

/ ˈhɪərəʊ /

noun

1. Greek myth a priestess of Aphrodite, who killed herself when her lover Leander drowned while swimming the Hellespont to visit her

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Hero ³ British  

/ ˈhɪərəʊ /

noun

1. 1st century _ad , Greek mathematician and inventor

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Hero Scientific  

/ hē′rō /

1. Greek mathematician who wrote on mechanics and invented many water-driven and steam-driven machines. He also developed a formula for determining the area of a triangle.

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Usage

Plural word for hero The plural form of the noun hero is heroes. The plurals of other singular words that end in -o are also formed in this way, including potato/potatoes, tomato/tomatoes, and echo/echoes. This can be confusing, because in some instances, words that end in -o are pluralized by simply adding an -s to the end, as in mango/mangos and flamingo/flamingos. However, the plural form heros is only valid when hero is used in the sense of a “hero sandwich.” This usage is very rare.

Gender

In its earliest use, the word hero was applied almost exclusively to a man. The corresponding word heroine was–and still is–reserved for a woman. Hero is still sometimes used to refer specifically to a man: British heroes and heroines. But hero is now considered to be a gender-neutral word, and is also increasingly used to refer to a woman: a list of American heroes; Joan of Arc, a French hero. In the sense "the principal character in a story, play, etc.," a hero is male and a heroine is female: Margaret is the novel’s heroine.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subhero
  noun
• unhero
  noun
• herolike
  adjective
• unherolike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• heroes
  plural
• heros
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of hero

First recorded in 1605–15; back formation from Middle English heroes (plural), from Latin hērōs (singular), hērōes (plural), from Greek hḗrōs, hḗrōes

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Explanation

Yes, a hero is a kind of sandwich. But when David Bowie sings, “We can be heroes,” he’s not talking about sandwiches. He’s talking about the more popular kind of hero — the kind who saves your life! A hero is someone who does fantastic things that people love. The guy who rescues a skater from a frozen pond is a hero. A hero can be the main character of a story, too, if people root for him. Spiderman is the hero of the comic series: he's the central character, but he also saves people. The word hero goes back to the Greek, referring to a demigod.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hero Hero heroes heros

Glenn was perhaps America’s last universally admired hero, the Marine fighter pilot who became the first American to orbit the Earth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

He was Clifford Clinton, a local hero as founder of Clifton’s renowned cafeterias.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026

By the time Stewart’s final voyage with “Star Trek” debuted in 2020, Picard was less of a Starfleet hero than a wise man exhausted by politics and cruelty.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

Mao remains officially revered as the hero of the communist revolution and founder of the People's Republic of China.

From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026

“Wouldn’t want me to lose concentration and drop our hero boy, now would we?”

From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley

"For more than 25 years, he brought a gravitas and profundity to the role, earning fans across the globe and helping to transform Super Hero storytelling forever," Marvel Studios said Thursday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026

In July, it made a $14.8 billion takeover bid for German company Delivery Hero, a deal that would merge two of the world’s biggest food-delivery platforms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

No equivalent reunion will enliven our 250th anniversary, but “The Hero Returns,” Richard Brookhiser’s narrative account of Lafayette’s visit and reception, is an excellent substitute.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Last year, without El Niño, forest fires in Indonesia torched a 359,000-hectare area, says Professor Bambang Hero Saharjo, a forest fire forensics expert from Institut Pertanian Bogor University.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

The agency assigned Penkovsky a code name, Hero.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

The entrance of the dingy space includes a display of “Faces of South Texas,” which includes Selena, Nolan Ryan, Tom Landry, and some war heroes.

From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2026

We can credit the actor’s innate emotional agility for his commitment to every part, or a versatility earned over decades of playing many major heroes and villains the Bard scribbled onto parchment.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

During his speech, Moe Tun held up a scarf bearing the names and ages of Myanmar's "fallen heroes and innocent civilians."

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

The spa is also a favorite among UFC fighters, who are celebrated as heroes in many Eastern European countries, Besharat explains.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

In the stories she read, heroes saved the world; they were chosen ones sent to rescue people.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

“Your life will be a story. It will be your story, with its highs and lows, its heros and villains, its forks in the road that mean everything.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 1, 2023

To mix it up, leftovers can easily be made into meatball heros.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2021

I’m sure the jobless, teachers, medical heros and first responders can sleep well tonight knowing these two gentlemen can survive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2020

It is completely self-serving for the author to portray himself or herself, along with fellow resistors, as heros.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 7, 2018

They also received their own temple and divine guardian or heros, whose priest they elected.

From The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels

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Related Words

• eidolon
• example
• exemplar
• good example
• icon
• ideal
• idol
• model
• paragon
• person to look up to
• role model
• shining example

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