Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A main character in a dramatic or narrative work who is characterized by a lack of traditional heroic qualities, such as idealism or courage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun literature, gaming A protagonist who proceeds in an unheroic manner, such as by criminal means, via cowardly actions, or for mercenary goals.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a protagonist who lacks the characteristics that would make him a hero (or her a heroine)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

anti- +‎ hero.

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Examples

  • By that definition, an antihero is a flat character, one that is simply a placeholder in a story rather than a true protganist.

    Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Hero vs Antihero 2010

  • Then our antihero is seen tenderly removing the fish from the boat’s hull.

    Archive 2007-06-01 ____Maggie 2007

  • Then our antihero is seen tenderly removing the fish from the boat’s hull.

    Finn (copy) ____Maggie 2007

  • The antihero is a fictional Conservative Chief Whip, Francis Urquhart the entire concept came from the initials, 'F.U.' played by Ian Richardson.

    Sony Sets The Lords Day As Clancy-esque Thriller With Franchise Potential | /Film 2009

  • Our antihero is the rookie racing-car sensation Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), a go-it-alone, look-out-for-number-one showboat with an agent in Hollywood (who else but Jeremy Piven) and dreams of big-bucks corporate sponsorship.

    Life in the Fast Lane 2007

  • Or maybe you did, but if so, it was a comic novel, and the main character got called an antihero.

    The Women’s Room Marilyn French 1977

  • Or maybe you did, but if so, it was a comic novel, and the main character got called an antihero.

    The Women’s Room Marilyn French 1977

  • Or maybe you did, but if so, it was a comic novel, and the main character got called an antihero.

    The Women’s Room Marilyn French 1977

  • It is not surprising, then, that by the late-19th century, three-quarters of women were "out of health" and represented the single largest market for therapeutic services, allowing doctors like Silas Weir Mitchell, the rest-cure physician who has been identified as the antihero of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, to earn $60,000 a year in the

    The Young Turks 2009

  • The Six are six (and frequently five) down-on-their-luck folk who range from "antihero" to "supervillian, but not right at the moment" who go around committing crimes for pay (and often, balking at the last minute from particular crimes, and thus not getting paid).

    Adult Fic, I Read That Too karenhealey 2010

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