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antihero

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: anti-hero

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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WOTD – 26 October 2010, 26 October 2011, 26 October 2012, 26 October 2013, 26 October 2014

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent-
Proto-Indo-European *-s
Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts
Proto-Indo-European *-i
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éntider.
Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ντῐ́ (ăntĭ́)
Ancient Greek ἀντι- (anti-)der.
English anti-
English hero
English antihero

    From anti- + hero.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    Examples

    antihero (plural antiheroes)

    1. (literature, roleplaying games) A protagonist who proceeds in an unheroic manner, such as by criminal means, via cowardly actions, or for mercenary goals.
      Synonym: unhero
      • 2006, James Bonnet, Stealing Fire from the Gods: The Complete Guide to Story for Writers and Filmmakers:
        Alienation: A stage on the downside of the passage wherein the holdfast and the antihero take actions which bring about a disintegration of personality.
      • 2014 December 22, Alison Flood, “JK Rowling ‘unnerved’ by girls who fall for Hogwarts bully Draco Malfoy”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 March 2016:
        JK Rowling says that “girls are very apt to romanticise” the antihero, and reveals that she had been forced to pour “cold common sense” on the startling number of readers who fall for the arrogant, unscrupulous bully Draco Malfoy in her Harry Potter books.
      • 2020 July 29, Jessie Yeung, “Australia names new species after Deadpool, Thor, and other Marvel favorites”, in CNN‎[2], archived from the original on 22 April 2022:
        The Deadpool fly is a species of Robber fly, which are “assassins of the insect world” – fitting for the mercenary antihero.
      • 2021 August 11, Jacqui Palumbo, “Rosamund Pike in ‘I Care a Lot’ and six more recommendations if you love an antiheroine”, in CNN‎[3], archived from the original on 16 July 2022:
        Fictional male antiheroes like television’s crime patriarchs Tony Soprano and Walter White have reigned for some time, but the antiheroine has only more recently had the opportunity to rise up – and become the cause of her own downfall. […] Grayson serves as an archetype for a female antihero not driven by much except for her own ambition, and she’s quite fine with that.
      • 2026 January 24, Michael Pascoe, “America’s mighty economic power has feet of clay”, in Michael West Media‎[4], archived from the original on 4 March 2026:
        The latest act in the Madness of King Donald drama playing globally on every channel underlined the increasingly delusional world the anti-hero inhabits, his fantasies fed and indulged by a cast of sycophants, lackeys and straight grifters, all in it for what they can get.

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    Anagrams

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