as in stars
the person who has the most important role in a play, movie, or TV show
a headliner on variety shows in the early days of TV
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of headliners
The festival announced its upcoming artist lineup Thursday in an Instagram post, with headliners including Robyn, Swedish House Mafia and Dog Blood — a duo made up of Skrillex and Boys Noize.
—
Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 29 May 2026
Its headliners included Vanilla Ice, the Commodores, Bret Michaels of Poison, Flo Rida, Martina McBride, Milli Vanilli, and the C+C Music Factory—a handful of recognizable acts, albeit ones that had their respective heydays several decades ago.
—Erin Vanderhoof, Vanity Fair, 29 May 2026
And the headliners for the evening (Blesstonio, Jesse de la Peña and Mochi) will perform first, not last.
—Britt Julious, Chicago Tribune, 29 May 2026
Riot Fest has announced its 2026 festival lineup, with headliners including Tool, Alanis Morrissette, Twenty One Pilots and more.
—Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 28 May 2026
In recent years, headliners have included Pavement, Slowdive, the Jesus Lizard, Mastodon and Osees.
—Spin Staff, SPIN, 28 May 2026
For the last several years, Motorola’s smartphone headliners were the Razr flip phones, but 2026 is different.
—ArsTechnica, 27 May 2026
This year officially marks 18 years of the event, with Charli xcx, The Strokes, and Rüfüs Du Sol as headliners.
—Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 23 May 2026
Particularly the undercard, not the headliners.
—David Remnick, New Yorker, 22 May 2026
Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 29 May 2026
Its headliners included Vanilla Ice, the Commodores, Bret Michaels of Poison, Flo Rida, Martina McBride, Milli Vanilli, and the C+C Music Factory—a handful of recognizable acts, albeit ones that had their respective heydays several decades ago.
—Erin Vanderhoof, Vanity Fair, 29 May 2026
And the headliners for the evening (Blesstonio, Jesse de la Peña and Mochi) will perform first, not last.
—Britt Julious, Chicago Tribune, 29 May 2026
Riot Fest has announced its 2026 festival lineup, with headliners including Tool, Alanis Morrissette, Twenty One Pilots and more.
—Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 28 May 2026
In recent years, headliners have included Pavement, Slowdive, the Jesus Lizard, Mastodon and Osees.
—Spin Staff, SPIN, 28 May 2026
For the last several years, Motorola’s smartphone headliners were the Razr flip phones, but 2026 is different.
—ArsTechnica, 27 May 2026
This year officially marks 18 years of the event, with Charli xcx, The Strokes, and Rüfüs Du Sol as headliners.
—Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 23 May 2026
Particularly the undercard, not the headliners.
—David Remnick, New Yorker, 22 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for headliners
Noun
-
From Newmar to Berry to Kravitz, take a look back at the stars who have played live-action iterations of the fan-favorite comic character Catwoman.—
Kelsie Gibson,
PEOPLE,
29 May 2026
-
Teachers at Fridley Middle still mention that Halverson once trained at the same facility as other local stars, Detroit Lakes’ Adam Thielen and CSP’s Zach Moore.—
Jourdan Rodrigue,
New York Times,
28 May 2026
Noun
-
Many teachers also volunteered extra time to help build lesson plans with Halverson and his assistant principals.—
Jourdan Rodrigue,
New York Times,
28 May 2026
-
Adams later moved into central administration as executive director of leadership, supporting principals across a network of campuses and leading school improvement efforts.—
Elizabeth Campbell. Produced with AI assistance,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
28 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Headliners.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/headliners. Accessed 31 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
