protagonist

noun pro·tag·o·nist \ prō-ˈta-gə-nist \

Updated on: 13 Apr 2018

Definition of protagonist

1 a (1) : the principal character in a literary work (such as a drama or story)

(2) : the leading actor or principal character in a television show, movie, book, etc.

b : an active participant in an event

2 : a leader, proponent, or supporter of a cause : champion

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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

Just as Fleabag could stare into the camera and never quite tell us the truth, the two protagonists of Killing Eve are lying to themselves.

— rachel syme, The New Republic, "In Killing Eve, Two Women Are Fed Up and Dangerous," 6 Apr. 2018
For decades, the protagonists of these movies have basically been the same: horny dudes who were desperate to score with any topless woman who happened to stumble into his bed.

— scott meslow, GQ, "Blockers Review: An Unexpectedly Clever Reinvention of the Sex Comedy," 4 Apr. 2018
This is apparently a more palatable female protagonist than someone like the main character on Cannon’s Netflix show Girlboss, based on Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso.

— allison p. davis, The Cut, "Kay Cannon ponders the dilemma of making the big-budget comedy more feminist.," 1 Apr. 2018
The protagonists of Japanese comic books come in various forms.

— dylan hernandez, latimes.com, "Angels' Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese comic book fantasy come to life," 1 Apr. 2018
Buckaroo Banzai While preparing for a date with Art3mis in the OASIS, Parzival tries on several outfits, settling on a tribute to Buckaroo Banzai, the protagonist of the 1984 sci-fi film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.

— Time, "A Handy Guide to the References and Easter Eggs in Ready Player One," 30 Mar. 2018
Take someone like Selina Meyer, the protagonist of Veep.

— sean illing, Vox, "Veep creator Armando Iannucci on Trump, democracy, and his new dark comedy about Stalin," 27 Mar. 2018
Their fury unfolded in an astounding blast of threats and insults made possible by the cathartic properties of Twitter -- a medium unavailable to the protagonists of previous Washington melodramas.

— stephen collinson, CNN, "Manic morning raises stakes for Mueller probe," 17 Mar. 2018
That's especially true for the protagonist of 1985, an intimate domestic drama set against the first wave of the AIDS crisis in Ronald Reagan's America.

— david rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, "'1985': Film Review | SXSW 2018," 10 Mar. 2018

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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1671

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year