headliner

noun

head·​lin·​er ˈhed-ˌlī-nər 

1

: the principal performer in a show : star

broadly : personality sense 4b

2

: fabric covering the inside of the roof of an automobile

Synonyms of headliner

• star
• principal

Examples of headliner in a Sentence

He was the headliner at a local night club.

a headliner on variety shows in the early days of TV

Recent Examples on the Web

The Liberty had a rough regular season in the WNBA, falling to eighth place despite having several women’s basketball headliners on the roster. — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026

One of this year’s headliners is Monisha Williams, a full-time comedian who has spent 13 years in the business. — Kansas City Star, 1 Oct. 2026

To try to build a fake festival to scale and have a headliner perform with 50,000 fans would make a very expensive movie. — Miki Hellerbach, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026

Amanda Bright, a festival attendee who is a huge fan of Thursday headliner My Chemical Romance, was getting a large spider tattoo on her upper arm Thursday afternoon after finding out about the tattoo studio on the Aftershock mobile app. — Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 1 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1896, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for headliner

• airliner
• combiner
• designer
• diviner
• eyeliner
• pulvinar
• recliner
• refiner
• diner
• finer
• liner
• miner