Definition of protagonist
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Examples of protagonist in a Sentence
Badlands has two protagonists and Days of Heaven four (though both movies are rich in colorful minor roles). —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.
Recent Examples of protagonist from the Web
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Instead of focusing on Harry Potter, the protagonist from Rowling’s series, the movie tells the story of the antagonist in Rowling’s series, Voldemort.
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Convincing the industry to write complex female protagonists?
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This hasn't, of course, kept fiction writers from regularly using autistic and developmentally disabled narrators and protagonists in their work.
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Lisa Marie Fernandez, bikini, $325, Protagonist jacket, $910, theline.com, Beaufille, earrings, $580 and $335, fwrd.com.
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The movie marks the first superhero film ever to be directed by a woman (Patty Jenkins) with a leading female protagonist in the storyline.
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Set in the U.S. in the 1970s, the film follows the titular protagonist (Matt Dillon) from his point of view through five murders.
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Discovering her own faint and distant connection to Neanderthals gave Ms. Cameron the confidence to write the novel, despite her worries that her prehistoric protagonist would come across as outlandishly campy.
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A study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film found that only 33 percent of characters in the top 100 highest-grossing films of 2011 were women and only 11 percent were protagonists.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'protagonist'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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".
Origin and Etymology of protagonist
Greek prōtagōnistēs, from prōt- prot- + agōnistēs competitor at games, actor, from agōnizesthai to compete, from agōn contest, competition at games — more at agony
First Known Use: 1671
Other Literature Terms
PROTAGONIST Defined for English Language Learners
protagonist
playDefinition of protagonist for English Language Learners
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: the main character in a novel, play, movie, etc.
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: an important person who is involved in a competition, conflict, or cause
Learn More about protagonist
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for protagonist Spanish Central: Translation of protagonist Nglish: Translation of protagonist for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of protagonist for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about protagonist
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