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leading man

American  
[lee-ding] / ˈli dɪŋ /

noun

  1. an actor who plays the principal male role in a motion picture or play.


leading man British  
/ ˈliːdɪŋ /

noun

  1. a man who plays the main part in a film, play, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

See Examples For:

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

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