superhero
Americannoun
-
superheroes
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of superhero
First recorded in 1895–1900; from French super-héros
Explanation
A fictional character with extraordinary powers who saves people from danger is a superhero. In real life, anyone who comes to the rescue can also be called a superhero. You know a superhero when you see one: in the movies or comics, they wear costumes and fight crime. Wonder Woman, Superman, Black Panther, and Iron Man are all familiar superheroes who use their superhuman abilities in amazing ways. Ordinary people who do amazing things — saving a child from drowning, running into a burning building for a pet cat, raising huge amounts of money for a good cause — are also superheroes.
Vocabulary lists containing superhero
Hands
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Comic Book Day
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A Boy Called Bat
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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.
See Examples For:
In a matchup that lasted seven minutes, Bauers battled postseason superhero Yoshinobu Yamamoto for 12 excruciating pitches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
I don’t know why all films now seem to be either based on superhero comics or incredibly worthy dirges, hoping to win awards without the collateral damage of entertaining anyone en route.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Cage, of course, is not the first Hollywood luminary to take a shot at the blockbuster superhero franchise or comic-book superhero movies in general.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Is it really any wonder that their latest collaboration, the by-the-numbers survival film “Heart of the Beast,” was crushed by a seven-year-old superhero movie?
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
And I sort of was a superhero in all the adventures I thought of with her in them.
From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott
"I've always looked up to bodybuilders as like superheroes and something I aspired to be," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Or, if you prefer superheroes: HBO’s new show adapts DC’s Green Lantern comics, but the series offers more than just your typical superhero fare.
From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026
Unlike so many other superheroes, Peter Parker is one of us.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
That included the launch of a new series of Magic: The Gathering cards based on Marvel superheroes, which debuted recently and set a record for first-day and first-month sales of Magic cards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
He’d been using it to make up superheroes recently.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
