heroine noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

Definition of heroine noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

heroine

noun
 
/ˈherəʊɪn/
 
/ˈherəʊɪn/
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  1. a girl or woman who is admired by many for doing something brave or good
    • the heroines of the revolution
    • She remains one of the unsung heroines of the Second World War.
    Topics Personal qualitiesa2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • great
    • real
    • national
    See full entry
  2. the main female character in a story, novel, film, etc.
    • The heroine is played by Demi Moore.
    • Shakespeare’s heroines
    • She has played several of Shakespeare's heroines—Portia and Juliet among them.
    Extra Examples
    • Jane Eyre, the eponymous heroine of the novel by Charlotte Brontë
    • Violetta is one of the great tragic heroines of Verdi's operas.
    • The story is narrated entirely by the heroine.
    Topics Film and theatrea2, Literature and writinga2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • great
    • real
    • national
    See full entry
  3. a woman that you admire because of a particular quality or skill that she has
    • Madonna was her teenage heroine.
    • She was thrilled to be interviewing her childhood heroine.
    compare hero
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • great
    • real
    • national
    See full entry
  4. Word Originmid 17th cent. (in the sense ‘demigoddess, venerated woman’): from French héroïne or Latin heroina, from Greek hērōinē, feminine of hērōs ‘hero’.
See heroine in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee heroine in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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