- present participle of star.
starring
Americanadjective
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featured or celebrated as a star in a movie, on a sports team, etc..
He was already the starring quarterback on his high school football team, which was on its way to a state championship.
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(of a character or role) leading, central, or primary.
The earliest performance I can remember is when I played the starring role in a drama called The Littlest Angel at church.
As the town’s largest employer, the university also plays a starring role in the local economy.
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featuring a specified performer.
They didn't give a beginner a starring movie when I started acting 18 years ago.
Etymology
Origin of starring
Explanation
Your attention-grabbing friend might be one who goes through life imagining it's a movie starring her. Starring means being the main character in a movie or play. Starring is an adjective that's used when someone's at the center of things, like a concert starring a famous cellist. The Greek word aster became the English word star, which was first used to mean "to be featured in a play" in the 1820s. If you imagine a star shining brightly in the dark night sky, it's easy to see how starring came to mean "being the most important on the stage."
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.
More than two decades later, the franchise returns with The Cheetah Girls: Next Gen, with Lennon starring as Brooklyn alongside fellow young leads Leah Sava Jeffries, Carmen Sanchez and Kaileen Chang.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
On Broadway, Grisetti was best known for starring as Bottom brother Nigel alongside McClure’s Nick.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
A 1929 Hollywood biopic starring George Arliss helped turn Disraeli into a figure of cultural visibility beyond Britain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Bellingham could be said to be on a redemption journey of his own since starring in England's run to the Euro 2024 final, where they lost to Spain.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
She had been practicing so hard for her wonderful starring role.
From "The Cinderella Ballet Mystery: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #4" by Carolyn Keene
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.
