"Byronic hero" meaning in All languages combined

See Byronic hero on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /baɪˈɹɒn.ɪk ˈhɪə.ɹəʊ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /baɪˈɹɒn.ɪk ˈhɪɹ.oʊ/ [General-American], /baɪˈɹɒn.ɪk ˈhiɹ.oʊ/ [General-American] Forms: Byronic heroes [plural], Byronic heros [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|es|s}} Byronic hero (plural Byronic heroes or Byronic heros)
  1. (literature) A character type originating in the works of Lord Byron, typically characterized by introspection, arrogance, cynicism, emotional depth, and moral ambiguity; often alienated from society and at odds with conventional morality. Synonyms: Romantic hero Hypernyms: hero Related terms: Byronic, antiheroism, tragic hero, Romanticism Coordinate_terms: Byronic heroine
    Sense id: en-Byronic_hero-en-noun-Bg7PQKSz Categories (other): Literature, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Literature Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 62 38 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 77 23 Disambiguation of Literature: 88 12 Topics: literature, media, publishing
  2. (literary trope, by extension) An archetype of a moody, brooding, rebellious, and self-destructive antihero found across later fiction and media, marked by intelligence, passion, and alienation from social norms. Tags: broadly Synonyms: antihero
    Sense id: en-Byronic_hero-en-noun-xzmgJON5

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Byronic heroes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Byronic heros",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "es",
        "2": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "Byronic hero (plural Byronic heroes or Byronic heros)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "classical hero"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Literature",
          "orig": "en:Literature",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "77 23",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Literature",
          "orig": "en:Literature",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "word": "Byronic heroine"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              30,
              42
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Childe Harold exemplifies the Byronic hero.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1814, Lord Byron, The Corsair, volume I, VIII, XI:",
          "text": "That man of loneliness and mystery,\nScarce seen to smile, and seldom heard to sigh;\n[...]\nHe knew himself a villain—but he deem'd\nThe rest no better than the thing he seem'd;\nAnd scorned the best as hypocrites who hid\nThose deeds the bolder spirit plainly did.\nHe knew himself detested, but he knew\nThe hearts that loath'd him, crouch'd and dreaded too.\nLone, wild, and strange, he stood alike exempt\nFrom all affection and from all contempt:",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              16
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1951, Albert Camus, The Rebel, page 46:",
          "text": "The Byronic hero, incapable of love, or capable only of an impossible love, suffers endlessly. He is solitary, languid, his condition exhausts him. If he wants to feel alive, it must be in the terrible exaltation of a brief and destructive action.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              16
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1962, Peter L. Thorslev, Jr., The Byronic Hero: Types and Prototypes, page 8:",
          "text": "The Byronic Hero, on the other hand, is invariably courteous toward women, often loves music or poetry, has a strong sense of honor, and carries about with him like the brand of Cain a deep sense of guilt.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A character type originating in the works of Lord Byron, typically characterized by introspection, arrogance, cynicism, emotional depth, and moral ambiguity; often alienated from society and at odds with conventional morality."
      ],
      "hypernyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "87 13",
          "word": "hero"
        }
      ],
      "id": "en-Byronic_hero-en-noun-Bg7PQKSz",
      "links": [
        [
          "literature",
          "literature"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literature) A character type originating in the works of Lord Byron, typically characterized by introspection, arrogance, cynicism, emotional depth, and moral ambiguity; often alienated from society and at odds with conventional morality."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "word": "Byronic"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "word": "antiheroism"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "word": "tragic hero"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "93 7",
          "word": "Romanticism"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Romantic hero"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "ideal hero"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              64,
              78
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Heathcliff, Edward Rochester, and Batman are often described as Byronic heroes.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              16
            ],
            [
              180,
              192
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2020 October 30, Maya Phillips, “Review: ‘Touch of the Poet’ Is a Powerful Study in Toxic Pride”, in The New York Times:",
          "text": "The Byronic hero: temperamental, hedonistic and romantic. [...] After all, when Con first appears, dressed in dusty shades of purple like a retired royal, we already know he’s our Byronic hero.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              133,
              145
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019 September 18, Evan McGarvey, “The Cardiganed Terrorist Next Door”, in Slate:",
          "text": "Yes, the film argues that racist thinking warps your life and will ruin it, but it also presents Norton’s Derek Vinyard as a kind of Byronic hero.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An archetype of a moody, brooding, rebellious, and self-destructive antihero found across later fiction and media, marked by intelligence, passion, and alienation from social norms."
      ],
      "id": "en-Byronic_hero-en-noun-xzmgJON5",
      "links": [
        [
          "antihero",
          "antihero"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "literary trope",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literary trope, by extension) An archetype of a moody, brooding, rebellious, and self-destructive antihero found across later fiction and media, marked by intelligence, passion, and alienation from social norms."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "antihero"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/baɪˈɹɒn.ɪk ˈhɪə.ɹəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/baɪˈɹɒn.ɪk ˈhɪɹ.oʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/baɪˈɹɒn.ɪk ˈhiɹ.oʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Byronic hero"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Literature"
  ],
  "coordinate_terms": [
    {
      "word": "Byronic heroine"
    }
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Byronic heroes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "Byronic heros",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "es",
        "2": "s"
      },
      "expansion": "Byronic hero (plural Byronic heroes or Byronic heros)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hypernyms": [
    {
      "word": "hero"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "Byronic"
    },
    {
      "word": "antiheroism"
    },
    {
      "word": "tragic hero"
    },
    {
      "word": "Romanticism"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "classical hero"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "en:Literature"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              30,
              42
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Childe Harold exemplifies the Byronic hero.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1814, Lord Byron, The Corsair, volume I, VIII, XI:",
          "text": "That man of loneliness and mystery,\nScarce seen to smile, and seldom heard to sigh;\n[...]\nHe knew himself a villain—but he deem'd\nThe rest no better than the thing he seem'd;\nAnd scorned the best as hypocrites who hid\nThose deeds the bolder spirit plainly did.\nHe knew himself detested, but he knew\nThe hearts that loath'd him, crouch'd and dreaded too.\nLone, wild, and strange, he stood alike exempt\nFrom all affection and from all contempt:",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              16
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1951, Albert Camus, The Rebel, page 46:",
          "text": "The Byronic hero, incapable of love, or capable only of an impossible love, suffers endlessly. He is solitary, languid, his condition exhausts him. If he wants to feel alive, it must be in the terrible exaltation of a brief and destructive action.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              16
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1962, Peter L. Thorslev, Jr., The Byronic Hero: Types and Prototypes, page 8:",
          "text": "The Byronic Hero, on the other hand, is invariably courteous toward women, often loves music or poetry, has a strong sense of honor, and carries about with him like the brand of Cain a deep sense of guilt.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A character type originating in the works of Lord Byron, typically characterized by introspection, arrogance, cynicism, emotional depth, and moral ambiguity; often alienated from society and at odds with conventional morality."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "literature",
          "literature"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literature) A character type originating in the works of Lord Byron, typically characterized by introspection, arrogance, cynicism, emotional depth, and moral ambiguity; often alienated from society and at odds with conventional morality."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Romantic hero"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "literature",
        "media",
        "publishing"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "ideal hero"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              64,
              78
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Heathcliff, Edward Rochester, and Batman are often described as Byronic heroes.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              16
            ],
            [
              180,
              192
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2020 October 30, Maya Phillips, “Review: ‘Touch of the Poet’ Is a Powerful Study in Toxic Pride”, in The New York Times:",
          "text": "The Byronic hero: temperamental, hedonistic and romantic. [...] After all, when Con first appears, dressed in dusty shades of purple like a retired royal, we already know he’s our Byronic hero.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              133,
              145
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019 September 18, Evan McGarvey, “The Cardiganed Terrorist Next Door”, in Slate:",
          "text": "Yes, the film argues that racist thinking warps your life and will ruin it, but it also presents Norton’s Derek Vinyard as a kind of Byronic hero.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An archetype of a moody, brooding, rebellious, and self-destructive antihero found across later fiction and media, marked by intelligence, passion, and alienation from social norms."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "antihero",
          "antihero"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "literary trope",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literary trope, by extension) An archetype of a moody, brooding, rebellious, and self-destructive antihero found across later fiction and media, marked by intelligence, passion, and alienation from social norms."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "antihero"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/baɪˈɹɒn.ɪk ˈhɪə.ɹəʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/baɪˈɹɒn.ɪk ˈhɪɹ.oʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/baɪˈɹɒn.ɪk ˈhiɹ.oʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Byronic hero"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Byronic hero meaning in All languages combined (4.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.