he·ro
n. pl. he·roes
1. In mythology and legend, a man, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits, and favored by the gods.
2. A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life: soldiers and nurses who were heroes in an unpopular war.
3. A person noted for special achievement in a particular field: the heroes of medicine. See Synonyms at celebrity.
4. The principal male character in a novel, poem, or dramatic presentation.
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[Earlier heroe, back-formation from heroes, heroes, from Latin hrs, pl. of hrs, from Greek. See ser-1 in Indo-European Roots.]
Usage Note: Many writers now consider hero, long restricted to men in the sense “a person noted for courageous action,†to be a gender-neutral term. It is used to refer to admired women as well as men in respected publications, as in this quotation from The Washington Post: “Already a national hero in her economically troubled South Korea,... [Se Ri] Pak is packing galleries at [golf] tournaments stateside.†The word heroine is still useful, however, in referring to the principal female character of a fictional work: Jane Eyre is a well-known literary heroine. Ninety-four percent of Usage Panelists accept this usage.
