protagonist
noun
Did you know?
Struggle, or conflict, is central to drama. The protagonist or hero of a play, novel, or film is involved in a struggle of some kind, either against someone or something else or even against his or her own emotions. So the hero is the "first struggler", which is the literal meaning of the Greek word prōtagōnistēs. A character who opposes the hero is the antagonist, from a Greek verb that means literally "to struggle against".
Synonyms
Examples of protagonist in a Sentence
Richard Alleva, Commonweal, 12 Mar. 1999
The protagonists of Gordon's fiction are children who have been saddled with their parents' emotional bad debts.
—Judith Thurman, New Yorker, 12 Mar. 1990
The most adamant opposition to my argument is likely to come from protagonists of secular reason …
—Glenn Finder, Atlantic, December 1989
She was a leading protagonist in the civil rights movement.
Milton Friedman is usually cited as the leading American protagonist of monetarism.
Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 17 Apr. 2024
Like its protagonist, the bilingual seven-part miniseries is proudly protean.
—Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024
Fair warning: One piece of the puzzle of Maas' expert storytelling (and world-building!) comes in the form of some rather raunchy intimate scenes between her protagonists — and maybe some side characters too, every once in a while.
—Julia Moore, Peoplemag, 15 Apr. 2024
That’s because the protagonist is relating his story to a Vietnamese interrogator, recounting a journey that includes the fall of Saigon, fleeing the country – in what’s surely the show’s most harrowing sequence – and his curious adventures in the US.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 14 Apr. 2024
The formula begins with the protagonist unlocking a role in the first stage.
—Gieson Cacho, The Mercury News, 12 Apr. 2024
The ending, like its protagonist, is bruised and battered, but hopeful.
—Laura Zornosa, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024
Ripley, Steve Zaillian’s eight-episode adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, takes its protagonist on a jet-setting tour of Italy.
—Emily Zemler, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Apr. 2024
But while his previous series ended with its protagonist in prison, his current one is ending with David himself walking free.
—Daniel D'addario, Variety, 8 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'protagonist.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near protagonist
Cite this Entry
“Protagonist.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/protagonist. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
protagonist
noun
Share