antihero
noun
an·ti·he·ro 
ˈan-tē-ˌhē-(ˌ)rō,
ˈan-ˌtī- -ˌhir-(ˌ)ō
plural antiheroes
: a protagonist or notable figure who is conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities
antiheroic adjective
ˌan-tē-hi-ˈrō-ik
ˌan-ˌtī- 
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Johnson plays an antihero known as Black Adam who is thousands of years old and possesses an ancient power. 
Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Sep. 2022 Oscar Isaac was having a ball playing two characters that shared the same body, and Moon Knight himself looked like an imposing antihero. Jacob Siegal, BGR, 14 July 2022 At the time commentators drew parallels between Walt and Tony Soprano, both family men and criminals who epitomized the age of the TV antihero. Brian Lowry, CNN, 14 Aug. 2022 The warehouses of literature are full of wicked mothers, but the bad-mom-as-antihero trend feels more recent. The New Yorker, 4 July 2022 Having left his Saul Goodman persona behind, and going by the name of Gene, our antihero was, for a while anyway, living a quiet life as manager of a Cinnabon at an Omaha, Nebrasks mall. oregonlive, 8 Aug. 2022 Auletta is, of course, Jerry Thompson, the reporter looking for his antihero’s Rosebud: the mysterious missing object or influence that will explain his personality. New York Times, 10 July 2022 With Nicholson as Bobby, an alienated antihero who flees his patrician clan, along with its famously ambiguous ending, the film came to be enshrined as a touchstone of ’70s American cinema. Dennis Lim, BostonGlobe.com, 25 July 2022 Phase 5 will end with the fourth Captain America movie and the arrival of a new antihero team called the Thunderbolts. Jacob Siegal, BGR, 23 July 2022 See More
Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Sep. 2022 Oscar Isaac was having a ball playing two characters that shared the same body, and Moon Knight himself looked like an imposing antihero. Jacob Siegal, BGR, 14 July 2022 At the time commentators drew parallels between Walt and Tony Soprano, both family men and criminals who epitomized the age of the TV antihero. Brian Lowry, CNN, 14 Aug. 2022 The warehouses of literature are full of wicked mothers, but the bad-mom-as-antihero trend feels more recent. The New Yorker, 4 July 2022 Having left his Saul Goodman persona behind, and going by the name of Gene, our antihero was, for a while anyway, living a quiet life as manager of a Cinnabon at an Omaha, Nebrasks mall. oregonlive, 8 Aug. 2022 Auletta is, of course, Jerry Thompson, the reporter looking for his antihero’s Rosebud: the mysterious missing object or influence that will explain his personality. New York Times, 10 July 2022 With Nicholson as Bobby, an alienated antihero who flees his patrician clan, along with its famously ambiguous ending, the film came to be enshrined as a touchstone of ’70s American cinema. Dennis Lim, BostonGlobe.com, 25 July 2022 Phase 5 will end with the fourth Captain America movie and the arrival of a new antihero team called the Thunderbolts. Jacob Siegal, BGR, 23 July 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1714, in the meaning defined above
- play at being something
- play ball
- play both ends against the middle
- play by ear
- play cat and mouse
- play catch-up
- play close to one's chest
- play close to the vest
- play coy
- play Cupid
- play dead
- play debt
- play doctor
- play down
- play ducks and drakes with
- play fair
- play fast and loose
- play fixer
- play footsie
- play for laughs
- play for time
- play forward
- play games
- play God
- play gym