Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: HEROES |
HEROESPlural1. Of Hero |
Date "HEROES" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Tips from 1870 | Usage: Heroes, Cantos. Most nouns ending in o add es to form the plural; as, heroes, negroes, potatoes, stuccoes, manifestoes, mosquitoes. Words ending in io or yo add s; as, folios, nuncios, olios, ratios, embryos. The following words, being less frequently used, often puzzle us to know whether to add s or es to form the plural: armadillos, cantos, cuckoos, halos, juntos, octavos, provisos, salvos, solos, twos, tyros, virtuosos. Source: Slips of Speech. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
- Here I come to save the day!
- — Mighty Mouse (1940)
A hero is a man or woman (then often called a heroine), traditionally the protagonist of a story, legend or saga, commonly possessed of powers far beyond that of a standard human, which enable him or her to perform some truly extraordinary, beneficial deed (an "heroic deed") for which he or she is famous. These powers are sometimes not only of the body but also of the mind. Heroes are typically opposed by villains.
A person normally becomes a hero by performing an extraordinary and praiseworthy deed. Traditional deeds are slaying of monsters and saving people from certain death. A hero normally fulfills the definitions of what is considered good and noble in the originating culture. However, in literature, particularly in tragedy, the hero may also have serious flaws which lead to his downfall, e.g. Hamlet.
Sometimes a real person might achieve enough status to become a hero in people's minds. This is usually complemented by a rapid growth of myths around the person in question, often attributing him or her with powers beyond those of ordinary mortals.
Some social commentators prescribe the need for heroes in times of social upheaval or national self-doubt, seeing a requirement for virtuous role-models, especially for the young. Such myth-making may have worked better in the past: current trends may confuse heroes and their hero-worship with the cult of mere celebrity.
Well-known heroes approach the gods in status in some cultures. The word hero comes from Ancient Greek, where it describes a culture hero who figures in mythology. The Greek heroes were often the mythological characters who were the eponymous founders of Greek cities, states, and territories. These mythological heroes were not always role models or possessed of heroic virtue; many were demigods, the offspring of mortals and the gods. The age when heroes of this sort were active, and where the stories of Greek mythology were set, is frequently known as the "heroic age;" the heroic age ends shortly after the Trojan War is over and the legendary combatants have returned to home or exile.
List of famous heroes
A book of recent fame, dealing with the telling of heroic stories, is called The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.
- Hercules, ancient Roman Empire
- King Arthur, medieval England
- Hua Mulan and Lord Guan, China
- Beowulf, Iron Age Scandinavia
- Stenka Razin, Russian folk hero
- Joan of Arc, France
- The twelve paladins of Charlemagne were important heroes whose stories were important in the development of courtly love and chivalric romance.
- Laura Secord, Canada
See also: superhero, culture hero
- Show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy
- — F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hero is also a Greek name, applying to several characters in mythology and fiction.
In William Shakespeares play Much Ado About Nothing Hero is a female character.
Hero is a Chinese film. See Hero (film).
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Hero."
Crosswords: HEROES |
| English words defined with "HEROES": argonaut, Asgard ♦ Berserker ♦ Cooper, Cyclic poets ♦ Duke Wayne ♦ Fistic, former, Frank Cooper ♦ Gary Cooper ♦ hero, hero worshiper, hero worshipper, heroic, Heroic Age, heroical, Heroologist ♦ Inferiae ♦ John Wayne ♦ latter ♦ Marlowe ♦ obscure ♦ pantheon, Philip Marlowe, Purana ♦ Rounceval ♦ Shintiism ♦ unknown, unsung ♦ Valkyria, Valkyrie ♦ Wayne. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "HEROES": Bealiah, BRANDY ♦ Capabilities Maturity Model ♦ Debon, Degenerate ♦ Hanan, Harodite, Heldenbuch, Hermoth, Hero Children, Heroes scratched off Church-doors, Hurai ♦ INFERIAE ♦ Machbanai, Mishmannah, Mythology ♦ Naharai ♦ Pirathonite, Pyrocles and Musidorus ♦ Rouncival ♦ Shields, Sons of the Mighty ♦ Trojan asteroids ♦ WAR ♦ Zeruiah. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "HEROES": Hero. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Heroes die but they are remembered (Deep Impact; writing credit: Bruce Joel Rubin; Michael Tolkin) Now she fights crime a different way, a master of the cyber-realms and trainer to heroes. Together, they have taken in Dinah, a meta-human herself, with powers that she is only beginning to explore (Birds of Prey; writing credit: Adam Armus; Nora Kay Foster) I always think of my murderers as my heroes. (Suspicion; writing credit: Anthony Berkeley; Samson Raphaelson) If heroes do not exist, it is necessary to invent them (Doctor Who; writing credit: Basil Caplan; Martin Defalco) Two words, you guys ain't heroes. (Kingdom Hearts; writing credit: Billy Gallo; Robert Gillings) | |
Lyrics | And the heroes who died just doin' what they do (Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning); performing artist: Alan Jackson) Of a bad play where the heroes are right (Run-Around; performing artist: Blues Traveler) Wishing that heroes, they truly exist (Oops!... I Did It Again; performing artist: Britney Spears) The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive ("Born to Run"; performing artist: Bruce Springsteen) Even Heroes have the right to dream (Superman; performing artist: Five For Fighting) | |
Clever | Heroes and winners aren't the same thing. (references; author: unknown) You are an engineer if you thought the real heroes of "Apollo 13" were the mission controllers. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Heroes (2003) Cantinflas y los heroes de la historia (1972) The Reluctant Heroes (1971) Kelly's Heroes (1970) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | They're the Royal Canadian Mounties of the immune system-the heroes who show up in the nick of time-and they take on all bacterial invaders, be they salmonella, listeria, pasteurella, or E. coli. They're infection-fighting white blood cells called heterophils, and poultry immunologist Michael Kogut has found a way to make them do his bidding to protect young poultry. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Keith Weller.. |  | America. To perpetuate to posterity the memory of those patriotic heroes, who fought, bled & died in establishing peace, liberty & tranquility to their country. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Monument to Heroes of Great Patriotic War (1965; 1995), Arkhangel'sk, Russia. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. |  | Heroes are made -- not born. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | New York gives rousing welcome to Bremen heroes. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Honoring their ancestral heroes - beautiful Shinto priestess prepares the sacred carp for offering to shrine, Tokyo. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Three Heroes. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The three heroes, Earl Schenck, Earl Williams, and Dmitri Goulandris, who spoke before labor-management committee members at Hazleton, July 30th. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | World War disabled veteran heroes in spite of their handicaps play par golf. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Arrival at Commonwealth Pier, Troopship America, with heroes of the 26th ("Yankee") Division, Sat. April 5th, 1919. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Heroes Squere" by SsJ Toma Commentary: "Heroes Squere in Budapest." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
Alphonse De Lamartine | Poets and heroes are of the same race, the latter do what the former conceive. |
Benjamin Disraeli | The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example. |
Brian Moore | The world's made up of individuals who don't want to be heroes. |
Daniel J. Boorstin | Time makes heroes but dissolves celebrities. |
Francois De La Rochefoucauld | There are heroes in evil as well as in good. |
Gerald W. Johnson | Heroes are created by popular demand, sometimes out of the scantiest materials, or none at all. |
Gibbon | Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes. |
Jean Jacques Rousseau | How many famous and high-spirited heroes have lived a day too long? |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | Spartans, stoics, heroes, saints and gods use a short and positive speech. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | They that found absolute monarchy upon the title of the sword, make their heroes, who are the founders of such monarchies, arrant Draw-can-sirs, and forget they had any officers and soldiers that fought on their side in the battles they won, or assisted them in the subduing, or shared in possessing, the countries they mastered. (Second Treatise of Government) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The panic of heroes is explained |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | I knew and could distinguish those two heroes at first sight, not only from the crowd but from each other |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | All poets and heroes, like Memnon, are the children of Aurora, and emit their music at sunrise |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Children | Eritrea | The Government spends a large share of its resources to support and train these fighters, who are regarded as heroes, and does not discriminate against them in training, education, or employment. (references) |
Economic History | Haiti | In 1791, the slave population revolted--led by Haitian heroes Toussaint L'Ouverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines, and Henri Christophe--and gained control of the northern part of the French colony, waging a war of attrition against the French. (references) |
Minorities | India | The erection of statues of Dalit heroes or of the flags of Dalit parties in public places often becomes the cause of inter-caste tension. (references) |
Travel | Philippines | All offices close during the following public holidays: January 1, New Year's Day; April 9, Bataan & Corregidor Day and Heroism Day; Easter Holidays, which include Maundy Thursday and Good Friday; May 1, Labor Day; June 12, Independence Day; August 27, National Heroes Day; November 1, All Saints' Day; November 30, Bonifacio Day; December 25, Christmas Day; and December 30, Rizal Day. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | MYTHOLOGY, n. The body of a primitive people's beliefs concerning its origin, early history, heroes, deities and so forth, as distinguished from the true accounts which it invents later. N |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Lynne Cheney | V is for valor. V is for the valor shown by those who have kept us free. And it's a page mostly about military heroes. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | The heroes of the Dunciad are to her, as Hercules to the author of that poem. |
James Madison | 1809-1817 | Already have the gallant exploits of our naval heroes proved to the world our inherent capacity to maintain our rights on one element. |
Dwight Eisenhower | 1953-1961 | Through the night of their bondage, the unconquerable will of heroes has struck with the swift, sharp thrust of lightning. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | We don't have to turn to our history books for heroes. |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | That's what one of my personal heroes, Hank Aaron, has done all his life. |
George W. Bush | 2001-2005 | As I have met the heroes, hugged the families, and looked into the tired faces of rescuers, I have stood in awe of the American people. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "HEROES" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 97.16% of the time. "HEROES" is used about 1,089 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (plural) | 97.16% | 1,058 | 7,079 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.84% | 31 | 62,296 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,089 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "HEROES": heroes-type. | |
Ending with "HEROES": anti-heroes. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
cookout heroes.com | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "HEROES"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 英雄 (hero). (various references) | |
German | Helden. (various references) | |
Korean | 영웅 (hero). (various references) | |
Norwegian | helter. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eroeshay.(various references) | |
Swedish | hjältar. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "HEROES": antiheroes, nonheroes, superheroes. (additional references) | |
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"HEROES" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Aereos, Aherloe, eroes, hebros, Hebrus, hemos, heorem, heraeus, hereo, hereom, heres, Herkes, hermes, herodes, herods, heroe, heroed, heros, herules, herveys, herzes, hieros, Hiroak, hironen, Hirosi, hrose. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "HEROES" (pronounced hi"rōz or hē"rōz) |
| 5 | h i" r ō z | heros. |
| 4 | -i" r ō z | zeroes, zeros. |
| 3 | -r ō z | arrows, barrows, borrows, bureaus, intros, micros, narrows, pedros, pharaohs, sorrows, sparrows, superheroes, tiros, wheelbarrows. |
| 5 | h ē" r ō z | superheroes. |
| 3 | -r ō z | arrows, barrows, borrows, bureaus, heros, intros, micros, narrows, pedros, pharaohs, sorrows, sparrows, tiros, wheelbarrows, zeroes, zeros. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: reshoe. | |
| Words within the letters "e-e-h-o-r-s" | |
-1 letter: erose, heres, heros, hoers, horse, sheer, shoer, shore. | |
-2 letters: eros, here, hero, hers, hoer, hoes, hose, ores, rees, resh, rhos, roes, rose, seer, sere, shoe, sore. | |
-3 letters: ere, ers, her, hes, hoe, oes, ohs, ore, ors, ose, ree, res, rho, roe, see, ser, she. | |
-4 letters: eh, er, es, he, ho, oe, oh, or, os. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-e-h-o-r-s" | |
+1 letter: cheeros, coheres, echoers, heteros, rechose, rehouse, reshoes, reshone. | |
+2 letters: cheerios, coherers, coshered, euphroes, firehose, gheraoes, heroines, heroizes, honester, honorees, horsemen, hosteler, hoverers, isothere, koshered, nowheres, oosphere, overshoe, rechoose, rechosen, redhorse, reechoes, rehoused, rehouses, reshowed, rheobase, seashore, senhores, shoetree, shoveler, showered, showerer, sorehead, theorems, theories, theorise, trochees, whosever. | |
+3 letters: beholders, biosphere, boreholes, cheverons, coheiress, coinheres, comethers, coryphees, dehorners, dethrones, earphones, ecosphere, enthrones, ephorates, exhorters, exosphere, firehoses, firehouse, foreheads, foresheet, foreshore, freeholds, heartsome, heartsore, hedgerows, helotries, heronries, heteroses, heterosis, hoarsened, holstered, homebreds, homebrews, horsebean, horsehide, horseless, horselike, horserace, horseshoe, horseweed, hosieries, hostelers, hosteller, hoteliers, howsoever, hydrosere, hyperopes, isotheres, lakeshore, lecherous, morphemes, nearshore, nephroses, nonheroes, noosphere, ohmmeters, oospheres, otherness, otherwise, overhates, overheads, overheaps, overhears, overheats, overhopes, overhypes, overshoes, poechores, preshowed, protheses, racehorse, rechooses, reclothes, redhorses, reshoeing, retouches, rheobases, seashores, seborrhea, semaphore, shoemaker, shoetrees, shoreline, shoreside, shortened, shortener, shovelers, shoveller, showerers, smothered, somewhere, soreheads, superhero, theorised, theorises, theorizes, thermoses, thermoset, threesome, threnodes, torcheres, trehalose, warehouse, whosoever, worksheet. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Historic 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Quotations: Spoken | 13. Quotations: Speeches 14. Usage Frequency 15. Expressions 16. Expressions: Internet | 17. Translations: Modern 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
