antihero

C2+ Topic:Describing People

US /ˈæntiˌhɪroʊ/ UK /ˈantihɪərəʊ/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a central character who lacks conventional heroic qualities

The novel's brooding antihero is a thief with a fragile conscience.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a central character who... protagonist

Opposites

hero

Word family

Derived forms antiheroicantiheroine

Related forms hero heroic

Etymology

A modern formation from anti- ('against, opposite') + hero, the latter from Greek hērōs ('demigod, hero').

antí Ancient Greek hḗrōs Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing People

# antihero

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈæntiˌhɪroʊ
**IPA (UK):** ˈantihɪərəʊ

## Meanings
1. a central character who lacks conventional heroic qualities

## Examples
- The novel's brooding antihero is a thief with a fragile conscience.

## Synonyms
- protagonist

## Antonyms
- hero

## Derived Forms
- antiheroic
- antiheroine

## Related Forms
- hero
- heroic

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: antí
- Root: hḗrōs

## Etymology
A modern formation from anti- ('against, opposite') + hero, the latter from Greek hērōs ('demigod, hero').

## AI Etymology
antihero is a modern formation from anti- ('against, opposite') + hero, the latter from Greek hērōs ('demigod, hero'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the noun sense is "a central character who lacks conventional heroic qualities", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as hero, heroic and derivatives such as antiheroic, antiheroine, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Ancient Greek antí, Ancient Greek hḗrōs, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- Describing People

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antihero

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