culture hero

American  

noun

1. a mythical or mythicized historical figure who embodies the aspirations or ideals of a society.

2. a mythical figure considered by a people to have furnished it the means of existence or survival, as by inventing their alphabet, teaching them husbandry, or stealing fire from the gods for them.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

culture hero

“Seeing White Raven today confirms both his trickster and culture hero nature, bringing benefits to the human world — including laughter and humor.”

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

Then there was Miki Dora, king of Malibu and still the greatest culture hero in all of California surfing — our very own Elvis, the last word in coastal cool.

From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2019

Sitting in a wheelchair, neck askew and peering from behind thick glasses, he became an impish yet towering pop culture hero; invoking his name or mimicking his electronic voice, was shorthand for brilliance and resolve.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2018

Tyler Durden became a pop culture hero to a certain quarter of the male population.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2014

I am not ready to say whether it is or it is not; but this I can assert, that, in many parts, it tallies marvelously with that of the culture hero of the Mayas.

From Vestiges of the Mayas or, Facts Tending to Prove that Communications and Intimate Relations Must Have Existed, in very Remote Times, Between the Inhabitants of Mayab and Those of Asia and Africa by Augustus Le Plongeon

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