HEROINE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does heroine mean? 

• HEROINE (noun)
  The noun HEROINE has 2 senses:

1. the main good female character in a work of fiction

2. a woman possessing heroic qualities or a woman who has performed heroic deeds

  Familiarity information: HEROINE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HEROINE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The main good female character in a work of fiction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("heroine" is a kind of...):

character; part; persona; role; theatrical role (an actor's portrayal of someone in a play)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A woman possessing heroic qualities or a woman who has performed heroic deeds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("heroine" is a kind of...):

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

Instance hyponyms:

Judith (Jewish heroine in one of the books of the Apocrypha; she saved her people by decapitating the Assyrian general Holofernes)

Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley; Mary McCauley; McCauley; Molly Pitcher (heroine of the American Revolution who carried water to soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth Court House and took over her husband's gun when he was overcome by heat (1754-1832))

 Context examples 

He wanted Jo for his heroine, and called upon his memory to supply him with tender recollections and romantic visions of his love.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Alas! If the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

You accept as perfectly legitimate the author's account of the secret thoughts of the heroine, and yet all the time you know that the heroine was alone when thinking these thoughts, and that neither the author nor any one else was capable of hearing them.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Mrs. Weston, kind-hearted and musical, was particularly interested by the circumstance, and Emma could not help being amused at her perseverance in dwelling on the subject; and having so much to ask and to say as to tone, touch, and pedal, totally unsuspicious of that wish of saying as little about it as possible, which she plainly read in the fair heroine's countenance.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Oh, don't I wish I could manage things for you as I do for my heroines!

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

But when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

How graciously Amy criticized the artistic parts of the story, and offered hints for a sequel, which unfortunately couldn't be carried out, as the hero and heroine were dead.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And now I may dismiss my heroine to the sleepless couch, which is the true heroine's portion; to a pillow strewed with thorns and wet with tears.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It did not seem at all comical to Meg, who kissed and caressed the afflicted heroine in the tenderest manner.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Every young lady may feel for my heroine in this critical moment, for every young lady has at some time or other known the same agitation.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)