protagonist
UK/pɹəˈtæɡ.ə.nɪst//pɹoʊˈtæɡ.ə.nɪst/
protagonist noun: the main character, or one of the main characters, in any story, such as a literary work or drama.
Noun
protagonist (plural protagonists)
- The main character, or one of the main characters, in any story, such as a literary work or drama.
- Antonyms:
- antagonist
- A leading person in a contest; a principal performer.
- An advocate or champion of a cause or course of action.
- It was toward the end of the sixteenth century that the communities in Venice, Mantua, Ferrara, Padua, and Casale Monferrato, inspired by the Renaissance music, wanted to introduce some modernization into the service. The greatest protagonist of the idea was the encyclopedic Jewish scholar Leon of...1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 198
protagonist meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
protagonist in Tamil
- இடஒதுக்கீட்டை ஆயும் அறிஞர், படைப்பின் முதன்மை மாந்தர்
protagonist in Urdu
- protagonist
- قہرمان qahrmān
protagonist in Bengali
- প্রধান চরিত্র, কোনো আন্দোলনের অগ্রনায়ক
protagonist in Malayalam
- chief character, central character, principal character
- പ്രധാന നടൻ, മുഖ്യപാത്രം, നായകനടൻ, കേന്ദ്രകഥാപാത്രം, നടനായകൻ, നടവരൻ
- champion, advocate, upholder
- വീരഭടൻ, മുഖ്യപോരാളി, പ്രക്ഷോഭണ നേതാവ്, പ്രക്ഷോഭകൻ, പ്രധാനവക്താവ്, അങ്കക്കാരൻ
More languagesFewer languages
- protagonist in Kannada
- ದೃಢವಾದ ಬೆಂಬಲ ನೀಡುವವನು, ಅನುಯಾಯಿ, ಬೆಂಬಲಿಸುವವನು, ಮುಖ್ಯ ಪಾತ್ರ
- protagonist in Gujarati
- હીરો hīro
- protagonist in Arabic
- بَطَل baṭal, بَطَلَة baṭala, مُتَصَدِّر mutaṣaddir
- protagonist in Malay
- protagonis, watak utama
- protagonist in Indonesian
- protagonis, tokoh utama, pemeran utama
- protagonist in Vietnamese
- nam chính, nữ chính, nhân vật chính
Examples of protagonist in a sentence
- Having the two protagonists meet in the last act was a particularly neat touch.
- Prince Hamlet is the eponymous protagonist of the Shakespearian tragedy Hamlet.
- The novel's protagonist serves as a mouthpiece for the author's political views.
Antonyms of protagonist
Forms of protagonist
| plural | protagonists |
|---|
Origin of protagonist
From Ancient Greek πρωταγωνιστής (prōtagōnistḗs, “a chief actor”), from πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”) + ἀγωνιστής (agōnistḗs, “a combatant, pleader, actor”). By surface analysis, prot- (“first”) + agonist (“combatant, participant”).
Words formed from protagonist
Questions about protagonist
- What does protagonist mean?
- Protagonist means the main character, or one of the main characters, in any story, such as a literary work or drama.
- What is protagonist in Tamil?
- Protagonist in Tamil is இடஒதுக்கீட்டை ஆயும் அறிஞர், படைப்பின் முதன்மை மாந்தர். See Protagonist meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is protagonist?
- Protagonist is a noun.
- How do you pronounce protagonist?
- Protagonist is pronounced /pɹəˈtæɡ.ə.nɪst/ (UK).
- What is the plural of protagonist?
- The plural of protagonist is protagonists.
Words near protagonist in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: protagonist (page history and authors); protagonist (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); قہرمان (Urdu) (page history and authors); protagonist (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); protagonist (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); protagonist (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); હીરો (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-protagonist.ogg.
Cite this entry: “protagonist.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/protagonist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.