superhero
Americannoun
noun
Other Word 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.
Superhero movies and action films once ruled the roost at the box office.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
Toyota's "Superhero Belt" traces a grandfather-grandson relationship across three decades, bookended by rides in a first-generation and the latest RAV4.
From Barron's • Feb. 6, 2026
Superhero movies never much dazzled someone like me, a kid who was concerned with real-life stakes, like how Harrison Ford could survive jumping hundreds of feet into a dam in “The Fugitive.”
From Salon • Jul. 10, 2025
Superhero films haven’t been quite the box-office behemoth they once were, leading studios to search for fresher alternative.
From Seattle Times • May 5, 2024
My fingers brush Daddy’s notebook, and that makes me imagine myself as Isaiah Dunn, Superhero.
From "Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero" by Kelly J. Baptist
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.
