leading man
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of leading man
First recorded in 1695–1705
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.
The series begins about a year after the events that closed out “Yellowstone” in December 2024 without leading man Kevin Costner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Matt James, the leading man on Season 25 of “The Bachelor,” ambled around with his mother in a T-shirt that read, “Raw Milk Club.”
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
He was a wrestler and a theater kid, playing the leading man in a high-school production of “My Fair Lady.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
More character actor than leading man, he could be relied upon to inject a feisty, fiery machismo and a cantankerous contrariness into the most mainstream Hollywood offering.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
Had she missed another lengthy lecture on a movie plot and the dreaminess of the leading man?
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
![]()
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.