starring

American  

[stahr-ing] / ˈstɑr ɪŋ /

adjective

1. 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.

2. (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.

3. featuring a specified performer.

   They didn't give a beginner a starring movie when I started acting 18 years ago.

---

Etymology

Origin of starring

star ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

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

Dexter: Original Sin actor Patrick Gibson will be starring in the role of 007, with the game's main villain, Bawma, being played by US singer Lenny Kravitz.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026

Thirteen years later, her play “My Master Builder,” inspired by Henrik Ibsen’s “The Master Builder,” was directed by Michael Grandage in London, starring Ewan McGregor and Elizabeth Debicki.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

It’s a culture she’s always longed to play a starring role in.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

More than any staging I’ve seen, this version, directed by Joe Mantello and starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf as Willy and Linda Loman, casts the play in an existential light.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

Many in the audience hooted as Maggie over-enunciated— raising her hands to heaven as if starring in some tragic play.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock